


Those Who Break the Rules Are Scum

by Heymonkeylover38



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Dai-nana-han | Team 7 (Naruto)-centric, Danzou is a prick, Good job Kurama!, Hatake Kakashi-centric, Masks are life, Parent Hatake Kakashi, Sassy Kurama, Uzumaki Naruto-centric
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-15
Updated: 2018-12-31
Packaged: 2019-06-27 18:12:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 30,195
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15690687
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Heymonkeylover38/pseuds/Heymonkeylover38
Summary: “Welcome to the Shinobi Academy for Murder and Assassination. That’s right, SAMA. And here, we are your gods. You will follow our rules, or you will be eliminated.”In a world where Sarutobi and Minato died sealing the Kyuubi into Naruto, Konoha ninja have been following the Shinobi Rules to the “t.” Follow our spirited blonde's new dream as he lives in a world where being able set aside emotions and assassinate targets is easy, as long as they take one little pill each day.But what if the pill doesn't work on someone?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters. There is some language that may not be appropriate for younger readers, and the writer’s sarcasm or sad attempts at jokes may be highly disappointing.

 

“Welcome to the Shinobi Academy for Murder and Assassination. That’s right, SAMA. And here, we are your gods. You will follow our rules, or you will be eliminated.”

“Elemonated?”

Iruka narrowed his eyes at the boy with blonde spiky hair and whisker marks on his cheeks. He quickly threw a kunai in the boy’s direction for the interruption. “Were you given permission to speak, Uzumaki?”

The boy paled and froze as a kunai slashed open his right cheek and sailed into the back walls of the classroom. He gulped and shook his head no.

“Eliminated.” Iruka paused for dramatic effect, “As in killed on the spot.” While maintaining eye contact, Naruto slowly reached up to feel the wetness on his right cheek and wiped it with his fingers. He stared at the blood on his finger tips and realized his sensei was very, very serious. He would do his best to never speak out again.

Iruka continued, “You will learn this nation’s history as approved by the current Hokage. You will learn arithmetic, reading, writing, and science. You will learn and perfect the Academy ninjutsu and taijutsu. You will learn and perfect weapon handling. You will learn and perfect the act of stealth, interrogation, capture, and assassination. You will know the rules of shinobi by heart and will above else follow orders, or you will be…” Iruka looked Naruto straight in the eye, “Eliminated.”

The classroom collectively gulped and some were sweating or shivering from the small amount of killing intent Iruka was giving off.

“Now then!” Iruka clapped his hands and his serious face turned into a bright smile, “Let’s begin!”

* * *

 

“It’s healed. How?” young Sasuke Uchiha was now in front of one Naruto Uzumaki.

“Uhhh.. what?”

“Your cheek. It’s healed.”

Naruto rubbed where his face had been cut, “Oh, really?”

Sasuke nodded in affirmation. “How?”

“I don’t know, dattebayo!”

 _‘I need that power to defeat my brother. He’s lying. I must know how he does it.’_  Sasuke thought to himself. “Hmm. Loser, you’ll regret going against an Uchiha.”

And from that day on, Sasuke no longer talked to Naruto, and Naruto had a rival.

“Sasuke-kun! Sasuke-kun!” Ino and Sakura shouted together. They glared at each other.

“What do you want?”

“Will you go on a date with me?” They asked in unison. Then they glared at each other again, but then smiled back at Sasuke in unison.

“No.” Sasuke turned to walk away as the storm clouds gathered over the girls’ heads and began to pour at a slight angle onto their hair. 

“Hey, Sakura-chan, I’ll go on a date with you!” Naruto said excitedly.

“Shut up, Naruto-baka. I didn’t ask you! I only want Sasuke-kun!”

Meanwhile, Iruka and Mizuki watched from the window.

“I don’t get the point in letting them enjoy their childhood like this,” Mizuki said.

“I believe it’s more for the civilian recruits. Otherwise there would be questions from the civilian parents. A childhood gives parents something to remember them by.” Iruka answered flatly.

* * *

 

“Uzumaki! Remedial!”

This was a common order from Iruka for Naruto. Naruto was often sent to remedial for failing his lessons or ninjutsu or because Iruka fucking felt like it. When Naruto returned from his extra lessons, he was often sporting some kind of “training accident” injury.

“Uzumaki! Remedial! If you fail to produce a bushin one more time, you will be eliminated from the program.”

“Eliminated, as in-”

“Did I order you to talk? Have Mizuki give you a lesson in following orders as well.”

The class resonated with a soft snickering towards the boy as he bowed his head and exited the classroom. As he closed the door he heard Iruka scolding the class for the outburst.

“Ah, back again Uzumaki?” Mizuki half snickered, “Another failed bushin?”

“Yes sensei-” Naruto’s face was hit with a hard SMACK.

“One more fail and that’s it. Isn’t that right?”

Naruto mumbled, “Yeah, dattebayo.”

Mizuki smiled a little creepier than usual and leaned in close to Naruto’s ear, “That’s why you were sent to me, Uzumaki. I’m your only hope now. I’m feeling particularly generous today, so I’ll give you a different task, and if you pass, I’ll tell Iruka you passed the bushin.”

“Really?” Naruto’s eyes sparkled in thanks.

“Really,” Mizuki sadistically smiled. “I’ll let you in on a little village secret.”

And so Mizuki laid out the plan to steal the Forbidden Scroll of Sealing.

* * *

 

Naruto snuck into the Hokage tower, just as planned, but what he didn’t expect was the Hokage himself to be wandering the halls.

“Who’s there? Oh it’s just the blonde brat. What are you doing here?”

Naruto shrunk back, he didn’t like Danzo-sama. He had always been unreasonably cruel to Naruto, given him a shitty-ass apartment and very little money to support his needs. He never checked on him and he didn’t care about his well-being, unlike the Uchiha, who he showered with everything.

There was also that period of time where he “belonged” to Danzo-sama and some guys in masks did their very best to piss him off- Naruto shook away the thought. He didn’t like to think about “those times.”

“Oiroke no Jutsu!” Suddenly Naruto transformed into a sexy blonde with long pig-tails. Her curves were in ALL the right places, with little puffs of smoke just barely covering her sweet spots.

Danzo-sama,  ~~being an even bigger pervert than his predecessors,~~ being extremely more desperate than his predecessors, due to his unsightly arm full of stolen fucking eyeballs that was white and wrinkly as fuck, not to mention all his weird wrappings and the fact that he can’t walk straight, he has no luck with anything that has legs. Anything. Needless to say, he’s not getting any action anytime soon.

Back to the point, Danzo-sama passed out from blood loss from his nose.

Who knows what the ANBU or ROOT members were doing, but Naruto then easily escaped and headed straight from the meetup spot with Mizuki.

And even though the Hokage tower was obviously alerted that the Forbidden Scroll had gone missing, Mizuki found it necessary to tap on poor Iruka’s window, waking him up and informing him that Naruto had stolen the Scroll.

Iruka, who was smarter than Mizuki, realized that if the scroll had been taken, the ANBU would have been alerted and not Mizuki, and Naruto was nowhere near smart enough to have thought to steal the thing in the first place.

So, Iruka silently followed Mizuki as he went to meet up with the unsuspecting Naruto.

“Mizuki-sensei! I did it! I learned a bad-ass jutsu! Now I can substitute it for the bushin and pass right?”

Mizuki started to laugh as Iruka’s hunch proved to be correct. “Very good, Naruto. Now hand over the scroll and I’ll let Iruka know you passed.”

“I’ve already heard,” Iruka said as he appeared next to Naruto, “Naruto, whatever you do, protect that Scroll with your life. Mizuki is deceiving you, do not give him the Scroll.”

“Deceiving? Ha! That’s a good one coming from you Iruka- _sensei_ , seeing as how you and the entire village have been deceiving the demon brat his entire life!”

“Mizuki, not another word! You know that’s forbidden!”

“What… What is he talking about?” Naruto nervously budded in.

“See, Iruka, he wants to know. He wants to know why he’s been hated his whole life, why he’s so different, why he’s been treated like shit since he’s been born.”

“Mizuki! STOP!”

“You are the Kyuubi. The nine-tailed demon fox! 12 years ago, you destroyed the village and with it, Iruka’s parents. He hates you, just like everyone else!” Mizuki laughed as he positioned his overly large shuriken.

“I… what…no..I.. I can’t be. Is that why? Is that why they hate me? Because of the stupid fox!” Naruto began to cry.

Iruka tried to look at Naruto with sympathy, but found that he simply couldn’t. As Mizuki dashed to strike, Iruka’s body moved on its own, and shielded Naruto from the large weapon.

Drops of Iruka’s blood mixed in with Naruto’s tears as he positioned himself as a shield overtop the trembling body beneath him.

“Naruto, run. Now!”

Naruto hesitated for a moment and then took off into the woods faster than he’d ever run before. Still, he felt like he couldn’t catch his breath and stopped, hidden behind a tree. There he overheard the fight between Mizuki and Iruka, who had been one-upping each other with transformations.

“Why are you protecting him, Iruka? He’s just the Kyuubi! Now let me get that scroll and I’ll kill the brat for you as compensation.”

“He is not the Kyuubi,” Iruka said in a monotone voice, “He is Naruto Uzumaki, and is a civilian training to be a shinobi. I am not allowed to let you kill one of my students.”

Naruto’s eyes brimmed with renewed tears as he took the statement Iruka had said to the heart. He mistakenly took Iruka’s “orders” as a SAMA instructor as an acknowledgement of him as a person and shinobi, something no one had ever done for him.

While it is true that Iruka did not see him as the Kyuubi, this was a well-known fact among the ranks who had been debriefed about Naruto’s unique situation. Naruto was a container for the strongest bijuu, and as such, was destined to be a weapon for this village, and although he did not need to be treated fairly or kindly, he was to be protected. But it definitely helps out our favorite character Naruto to let him think that Iruka has finally acknowledged him.

With Iruka’s and Mizuki’s battle coming to a head, Iruka was wounded and at the disadvantage. Naruto couldn’t take it anymore and came out of hiding, scroll in hand. “If you hurt Iruka-sensei one more time, I’ll kill you.”

With that, Mizuki smiled as he forcefully pulled out a kunai that he had stuck in Iruka’s thigh. “You’ll kill me? Don’t make me laugh. Let’s see just what the demon boy can do.”

“You asked for it! MULTI-SHADOW CLONE JUTSU!” With a huge surge of chakra that alerted the ANBU of his position, Naruto created 200 shadow clones that surrounded Mizuki from all angles.

“Alone, I probably can’t do anything,” one clone said, “But all of us?” another chimed in, “WILL KILL YOU!” They shouted in unison.

All the Naruto’s proceeded to kick Mizuki’s ass until he was unconscious and his face was unrecognizable. After all the Naruto’s were dispelled, the ANBU came out of hiding. One picked up the traitor, another the Scroll, and two more shushined Naruto and Iruka to Danzo-sama’s Hokage office.

Iruka gave his report: (we just read it, so skip that).

“I’m impressed, Uzumaki. You might be worth something after all. Iruka, be sure to keep an eye on him. And if he can produce that many shadow clones, I’m guessing he has too much chakra for the bushin. Pass him along with the others. I want to see what he can do in the graduation test.”

Iruka nodded.

“And Naruto? I’ll look past what you pulled tonight in favor of you defeating a traitor. You will tell no one what transpired here tonight, understood?” the killing intent that Danzo-sama gave off almost knocked Naruto on his ass.

“See to it that he gets home, Iruka.”

Iruka nodded, “Yes, Hokage-sama.”

* * *

 

As they walked (Iruka limped) down the streets towards Naruto’s apartment, Ichiraku Ramen was still open for the night.

“Hey, hey, Iruka-sensei, will you buy me some ramen for kicking ass tonight?”

Iruka thought about Danzo-sama’s orders.  _‘See to it that he gets home.’_  There was no order forbidding ramen between the Hokage tower and Naruto’s home. Nor was there a time limit given. Vague orders.

Iruka shrugged, “Sure, why not?”

“AHHHH THANK YOU, SENSEI!” Naruto shouted with glee as he ran into the shop.

As they were eating, Naruto kept looking at Iruka’s leaf headband. “What?” Iruka asked when he got annoyed.

“Uhhh.. Sensei.. I was wondering, could I, could I have your headband?”

“What, this? Not a chance. This is only for those who graduate SAMA. You’ll get one soon enough, assuming that you survive the graduation test.”

Naruto slurped down the rest of his ramen and slammed the bowl down, “What was that last part sensei? I didn’t quite catch that, hehe.”

“I said good luck on the graduation test, Naruto.”

“Thanks, Iruka-sensei! I promise Naruto Uzumaki will graduate SAMA and be one step closer to being your future Hokage, dattebayo!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Just like Danzo-sama has control over the whole village, he also has some weird control over me too and I can't give him any honorific lower than sama. The fucking prick.


	2. Graduation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Basically the Hunger Games Naruto-style.

Within the next week, the final exams in all areas had been given. While Naruto had scraped by for the academic portions, he easily preformed the SAMA ninjutsu, now substituting a shadow clone for the bushin.

Iruka stood at the front of the classroom, "Congratulations everyone for passing the requirements for the graduation test. In three days, you will return to the Academy grounds for your final graduation test. You will each be given supplements that you are required to take as shinobi. The supplements allow for you to practice the ninja arts safely without damage to your body. It is a mandatory requirement for all ninja to take these supplements. If you fail to do so, your body will break under the pressure from increased use of chakra and you will eventually die. You will take your first supplements now, and we will check that you have swallowed your pill. You are then to take one every morning from now on."

Prescription pill bottles were handed out to every student. Iruka called for all students to form a line. Each one took a pill and Iruka checked if they swallowed. Once they had taken their pill, they were sent home.

* * *

Three days later, Naruto returned to SAMA with the rest of his classmates. When he walked into the room, something felt different. He was tempted to shout something loud or get a laugh out of his classmates, but he just couldn't bring himself to do it.

He took his usual seat and took the time to scan the room. No one was making a sound. Everyone was staring straight ahead, with emotionless faces. It was almost like a nightmare or a scary movie.

Naruto wondered if he should just be doing the same, or if he should snap everyone out of it. Before he could decide, Iruka entered the room with a clipboard.

"Good morning, everyone."

"Good morning, Iruka-sensei," the class answered monotonously.

Naruto was scared to look different than his classmates. Maybe there was some direction he had missed? Maybe he was really dreaming and just needed to wait until he woke up? Why was everyone acting this way, and why did no one seem like themselves?

Come to think of it, no one was acting in any particular way. No one was happy. No one was sad. No one was scared. No one was anything other than there. No one but Naruto.

Clearly, Naruto had missed something. Naruto mused it was best to just try to follow everyone else's lead. He was pretty good at that too, since he usually missed directions in class or didn't know how to solve the problems.

Naruto followed everyone else's cue as they stood and lined up. They were moved into another room; one Naruto had never seen before.

The room looked like a sparring ground, but it was located underneath SAMA. He eyed some of his classmates that looked around at the new surroundings but saw that they didn't react.

Maybe this was a test of who could control their emotions best? Iruka was always going on and on about following the Shinobi Code, rules with numbers attached to them. Naruto didn't believe in some of them, and forgot many of them, but he would do his best to fake it.

"This is where the final test will take place. You will be broken up into teams. In order to pass the test, everyone on your team must still be alive by the end of test. If any of your teammates are eliminated, the entire team will fail and also be eliminated. You may use your teammates and/or collaborate with them as necessary to pass the test."

Meanwhile, Naruto was doing his best not to piss his pants,  _"Wait what?! What the actual fuck is going on?! There's that fucking word again: Eliminated. What did Iruka say that meant… to be killed on the spot? Wait Holy Fuck. Are we going to die? Is everyone here going to die? Wait, how? Who's going to kill us? What the fuck is this!? Stay calm, Naruto. No one else is even reacting in the slightest. This has to be a trick. They all know what this test is really about. I must be stupid. Play along. Don't react. Become Hokage. I got this."_

Naruto calmed himself just to hear his team assignment: "Team Seven: Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura Hurano, and Sasuke Uchiha."

The team placements must also be a part of this test. I can't believe I'm with that fucking bastard! And Sakura hates me! Naruto stole a glance over at his two teammates who hadn't reacted in the slightest to the news.  _"Dicks in a candy store, they are good. Think about dead puppies. Dead puppies. Dead puppies. Dead puppies. Dead pu-"_

"Alright now that everyone has their teams, we will begin on the signal. Only three teams will pass, so once there are only three teams left, the test will end. You are authorized to use all jutsu and weapons for lethal force."

_"This has to be a joke. This can't be real. Lethal force? They can't expect us to kill our own classmates?!"_

"Begin!"

On the signal, everyone but Naruto jumped into action.

The weapons were located in the middle of the arena. Most teams ran right for weapons.

Some teams were fast enough to get to the weapons, but most were not. Those who had already learned their own clan jutsus perched themselves to pounce on their prey.

Shikamaru was holding teams still with his shadow possession while Choji grew his arm and took out the team in one swipe. His overly large hand grasped individual skulls and gave them a chakra enforced SMASH to the ground. It made Choji think of eggs and he became hungry.

Meanwhile, Ino was possessing unsuspecting team members, controlling their bodies with her mind transfer jutsu. She forced the body to turn on its teammates, killing them as they reached for their own weapons. She then turned towards Shikamaru and Choji and threw some weapons their way. She quickly exited the body when another classmate was about to kill her host.

On the other side of the weapons arsenal, Team 8 was working to disable the competition. Hinata was using her byakugan and clan jutsu to cut the chakra connections in her opponents' hearts. Shino was using his bugs to suck all the chakra from his opponents. He let his bugs quickly devour the bodies until only scraps of flesh on the bones and clothes were left. Kiba and Akamaru were using the man beast clone technique to brutally claw at their opponents. Akamaru followed his master's lead, biting into the necks of any attackers and ripping open their jugular.

Naruto watched in horror as the nightmare wouldn't come to an end. He was too shocked to even react and too scared to make his legs move.

He felt a push to his back and a sharp stabbing pain in his right arm.

"What are you doing, you idiot? Stop standing there and help us out!" Sakura shouted at him like she was giving him orders.

Naruto then noticed of his classmates was trying to kill him and had attacked him. Thankfully, Sakura had pushed him out of the way to avoid a fatal blow, which ended up slicing open his arm instead.

Sasuke sent a fireball on Naruto's assailant. He burned to a crisp, and Naruto's stomach flipped in on itself when he caught the sent on the burning flesh.  _"It smells like chicken."_

"Move or die." Sasuke warned. He turned to face Naruto, his red sharingan eyes blazing in the ashes of the fire.

"What the hell, Sasuke, what's wrong with you? Why did you kill him? And what's with your eyes?"

"It's the sharingan," he said with the lack of his usual pride.

Sasuke's eyes roamed over Naruto's features, noticing the crinkle in his eye brows, the terrified look in his eye, the desperation in his shallow breaths, and the quick pulse on his neck.

"What's wrong with you? Either help us out or stay back and don't get yourself killed. You're just slowing me down. I guess the dead last is dead weight too."

Naruto couldn't even retort. He stared blankly into Sasuke's red eyes in disbelief.

 _"This can't be real, it has to be a nightmare. I'm just in my bed and will wake up any minute."_  He thought to himself. He was jarred out of his thoughts with a smack to the head from Sakura. "Wake up and do something!"

Sasuke looked over Sakura and Naruto, and came to the conclusion they were both worthless. "Both of you are pathetic and weak. Don't die. I need you two to pass. Don't get in my way."

After that, Sasuke took off to go on a killing spree.

Meanwhile, behind a barrier in a secret room overlooking the arena, the jounin senseis were observing their potential students. Each was assigned to a team already, but depending on their performance, they could choose to accept or decline a team. Then another jounin could bid for the team. They all watched impassively as the potential genin murdered each other.

"What is that Uzumaki kid doing?" One of them asked.

Kakashi looked up from his book to meet the eyes of the one who questioned him.  _"Asuma Sarutobi, son of the Third Hokage. Sad you've been reduced to this."_  Kakashi thought as he looked over the man.

"Hmmm," Kakashi pretended to think it over. When he looked down in the arena, he thanked those whose names were on the memorial stone that he had already lost his heart so seeing this scene wouldn't make him also lose his lunch.

He found the blonde spiky hair that belonged to Naruto and observed as he argued with the Uchiha. Kakashi hummed again, but this time with real interest. He slid up his hitae-ite that was covering his scarred left eye to reveal his own sharingan.

His eye allowed him to read the lips of the two students. He was also able to see Naruto's chakra acting erratically, and the features of his face and body that clearly showed he was acting different than the rest. Kakashi was able to keep his face void of emotion, which was easier since half of it was covered in a mask anyways, as he thought to himself,  _"The drug isn't affecting Naruto. It must be the Kyuubi's chakra burning it off like a poison. I wonder if Minato sensei knew something like this would happen. Giving his son the Kyuubi might actually save him. He could be Jiraya's Child of Prophesy. I just hope he doesn't cause anymore suspicion. Please, Naruto. Don't get yourself killed."_

Kakashi recovered his eye and spoke to an expecting Asuma, "They were arguing over a strategy. Looks like the Uchiha will be getting to work. Ah, there he goes." Kakashi's lone eye followed the raven-haired boy as he dashed away from his teammates.  _"Even with death on the line there's no teamwork. Not that I'd expect that anymore."_

"It's a shame that Kyuubi kid's on his team. They two got the best scores in the academy, the two rookies of the year with the dead last, tch" he clicked at the end.

"Your team is looking good," Kakashi forced himself to say.

"Yes, they look very promising," Asuma replied.

Back in the Hunger Games of SAMA, the teams were whittling down. Kakashi was watching Naruto, hoping the other jounin were too busy focusing on Sasuke to notice his behavior.

And then things got... interesting. Naruto turned to see an impaled Sakura. A tanto had been stuck in her abdomen and she had fallen onto the ground.

_"This can't be happening. No no NO! This isn't real, it can't be. Sakura can't be dying. She can't. That's it's: this is a genjutsu, it has to be. How did Iruka-sensei say to get out of one... pulse your chakra.. say... say...? Fuck, I can't remember. I'll just push out as much chakra as I can!"_

And with that, Naruto pushed out as much chakra as he could to "expel the genjutsu."

When Naruto opened his eyes, all he saw was Sakura's attacker right on their ass from the force of his chakra.

_"Not enough. Got to give it... everything!"_

Naruto looked deep into himself and pulled out as much chakra as he could. Fortunately or unfortunately, he succeeded in pulling out the nine-tailed fox's chakra, too.

The whiskers on his cheeks thickened to be extremely obvious. His fingernails elongated, turning into claws. His spiky hair became even spikier, like the way the hair stands up on the back of a cat's back. His pupils turned into slits and his iris turned red. A faint glow of red appeared around his body as the Kyuubi's chakra leaked out of the seal.

Naruto was filled with a rage he had never felt before. An anger that was so easy to fall into, to feed, to lash out. The world seemed to move slower and he felt a little lighter. Soon, all he could see was red. The primal instinct to let the anger take hold and to hurt, maim, kill was suddenly so engraving Naruto seemed to be pulled into a hug of evil intent, and it felt warm and nice wrapping around his body.

With a roar, Naruto declared, "I'll kill you!" And within a half of a blink, he was punching Sakura's assailant clean across the face. They were launched back into the wall of the arena and rendered unconscious.

Naruto was overwhelmed by the seen, taking everything in with heightened senses. The smell of blood was sickening, further aggravating his unstable state of mind.

The next few minutes were a blur. Naruto went into a haze, attacking anyone who wasn't Team Seven, Eight, or Ten. While Naruto didn't kill anyone he attacked, of the members of the previously listed teams cleaned up after him, killing all those Naruto had left unconscious.

Naruto started to lose control to the Kyuubi. A bubbling red cloak started forming around him. Kakashi leapt from his observation spot when a siren sounded and an announcement, "The test has concluded. Congratulations on passing the test," rang through the arena.

"I accept Team Seven as their jounin-sensei," he announced as he sailed through the air. He landed next to Naruto, quickly planting a hard hit to the back of his neck. Naruto crumpled under the blow, and the cloak dispersed.

When he woke up, he was covered in blood. He looked to his left to see Sasuke also covered in blood, but without a scratch on him. He turned to the right and saw Sakura staring at the ground. Slowly, he let his gaze wonder away from Sakura to the rest of the room.

The ground and walls were splattered with blood. Some parts were sporting some brain matter. There was some smoke from the scorched bodies that were brought down by the Uchiha. Bloody weapons scattered the grounds.

Medical ninjas were running towards each team, inspecting and treating as necessary. The other jounin were now going to their respective teams. Either sealing the bodies in scrolls, or in Asuma and Kurenai's cases, introducing themselves.

Naruto watched as the medical ninja treated Sakura. He could feel the tears prickling at the corners of his eyes. He felt so drained, physically from using the fox's chakra, and mentally and emotionally from watching his classmates die by his friends' own hands.

He was about to let everything go when he felt a hand on the back of his neck and then everything felt heavy. Naruto let the exhaustion take him and he passed out.

"Why did you do that?" Sasuke asked Kakashi.

"He looked like he needed a nap, so I placed a seal that seals away chakra on his neck."  _"I saw him about to lose his shit and they'd figure out he isn't affected by the medicine and kill him."_

"What was that? How can I get that power?"

"Did you say something?"

"Hmph."

"Anyways, I'm Kakashi Hatake. I'll be your jounin-sensei. Here's the details about our training schedule," Kakashi hands him a folded piece of paper, "We'll start in 3 days, so Sakura can recover. Go home and get cleaned up." Kakashi looked over his blood soak clothes.

Sasuke took the paper from the man's hands and turned to leave without another word.

Kakashi walked over to Sakura, "Are you alright?"

"I'll be fine," she replied.

"Right, well. I'm Kakashi Hatake. I'll be your jounin-sensei. Here's the details about our training schedule," Kakashi hands her a folded piece of paper, "We'll start in 3 days, so you can recover. Go home and get cleaned up once the medical ninja clears you."

Kakashi sighed as he bent over and picked up the sleeping Naruto.  _"I can't believe I'm doing this."_ He carried Naruto to his apartment and laid him in bed.

He looked over his calm features, noticing the dried path of a tear that he didn't know had fallen. Kakashi buried his face into his hands wondering to himself how in the hell was he going to do this.

"Minato-sensei, why the fuck did you have to die? Why did you leave us here in this hell hole? It was hard enough by myself, but now there's Naruto, too."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! More questions will be answered next chapter!
> 
> Thanks for reviews, hopefully things will make more sense now, and continue to if you keep reading. Hopefully there wasn't too much gore, I am trying to keep it on the lighter side.


	3. Papa Kaka

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I love Kakashi as a father-figure.

When Naruto woke up, he realized he was in his own bed and the sun was setting. He shifted in his covers to see a ninja sitting in one of his shoddy kitchen chairs. He was softly snoring with his head cocked back, resting on the wall.

Naruto’s mind started to replay the day’s events, and he suddenly realized what had transpired. He slowly bunched his covers and grabbed his lone stuffed animal. He hid under the warmth of the blankets and held his animal close to him. Once the tears slipped from his eyes, they couldn’t stop.

Kakashi woke up to the sounds of muffled sobs.  _“What did I do to deserve this?”_ Kakashi knew he was not a father-figure, but he would be damned if he couldn’t try to tap into those memories of his father from before he… well Kakashi doesn’t like to think about the ‘after.’

He grabbed the corners of Naruto’s blankets. He peeked under and tilted his head, trying his best to show his smile with just his singular eye, and cheerfully greeted Naruto with a, “Yo!”

Naruto startled from the sudden intrusion of his fort, and when he looked at the voice he screamed, “AHHHHHH! A CYCLOPS!! I’M SORRY PLEASE DON’T KILL ME!!”

He scurried back to the edge of his mattress before going too far and fell off the end of his bed, getting tangled in his covers, and bringing them with him as Kakashi “accidentally” let go.

Kakashi then lazily strolled over to the thrashing ball of covers on the ground, shifted his gaze, and swiftly grabbed the middle of it. The covers quickly rose from Naruto, who frantically grabbed for the covers. “Coooolllddd,” he shivered and hugged himself.

Naruto finally took in his situation and slowly looked up to the ninja in his house, “Who the hell are you?”

“Glad you asked. My name is Kakashi Hatake. I’m your new jounin-sensei.”

Naruto gaped, “What?” He stopped and looked around taking in his home, “Wait what am I doing here? What are YOU doing here? And why… damnit what the fuck is happening?!” He pulled at his spiky blonde hair, tears already bordering the corners of his eyes.

“Uh, Naruto,” Kakashi tried to get him back to the present. He put a firm hand on the boy’s shoulder to ground him.

“Naruto.”

No response.

“Naruto? Naruto, look at me.”

Bright blue eyes lost and broken gazed up at the apathetic gray one. “Kakashi-sensei…”

Kakashi motioned towards the bed, and Naruto resumed his earlier position, dragging the blankets with him. Kakashi sat back down on the chair and proceeded to stare at Naruto.  _“How do I even start?”_

To avoid talking he set up some barrier seals on Naruto’s house for privacy.

He sat back down and looked at the expectant, sniffling blonde.

“Naruto…God how do I even start. Naruto, you and I…”

Kakashi buried his face in his hands. He took a deep breath and restarted.

“On the last day of your Academy, they gave you those pills, you remember? You have them?”

Naruto nodded and pointed to the bottle in the middle of his small kitchen table. Kakashi followed his fingers and nodded. “Don’t ever take those pills ever again.”

“But why? Iruka-sensei said-”

“Naruto, did you notice that your classmates were acting differently after receiving those pills?”

Naruto’s face lit up in recognition and his lips formed an “O.” Seeing the seriousness on Kakashi’s face he nodded now understanding the connection.

“Those pills affect how your classmates’ brains work. There’s a part of your brain that deals with emotion and how your body reacts to those emotions called the limbic system. The limbic lobe is a primal part of the brain that deals with emotions, pleasure, fear, aggression, and basic drives and functions. The amygdala assigns emotions to stimuli and associated autonomic responses. The drug severs the link between the amygdala and the hippocampus, so they can’t associate events or memories with emotions. With the other parts of the limbic lobe dampened, it essentially makes it so they can’t feel any emotions, or if they do, they can’t put an emotion with a memory of something they did. It also affects the prefrontal cortex, their judgement and mood. It makes them compelled to following orders. The drug also affects their dopamine levels, so it is highly addictive. When they follow orders successfully, there is a rise in their dopamine levels so they get high when they are told to do something…”

Naruto had a glazed over look in his eyes and smoke was visibly coming out of his ears.

“Oh shit, you didn’t get a word of what I just said, did you?”

“I’m sorry, that was a lot of big words, and I didn’t really follow what you said.”

“Hmmm, how can I put this simpler… the pills they take, makes it so they can’t feel anything and they really like following orders. But they still maintain their personalities, likes and dislikes, reasoning, etc.”

“What does that even mean?”

“What part did you not get?”

“…What don’t they feel?”

“Anything.”

“I don’t get it.”

“Like happy, sad, anger, hurt, Naruto, _frustration_.”

“But how can they not feel? I don’t get it?”

Kakashi literally face palmed. “The pills, Naruto. The pills. It makes them not feel anything.”

“But…why?”

“Because our Hokage is fucking insane and trying to create a perfect army of unemotional assassins that will do anything he says to ‘protect Konoha.’”

“But why?? I just don’t get it. Isn’t the Hokage supposed to protect everyone?”

“Yes. Yes, that’s true. But Danzo-sama has a sick sense of the Will of Fire and he has corrupted our shinobi. Do you know the Will of Fire, Naruto?”

“Yeah, Jiji always talked about it. To protect Konoha.”

“It’s more. The Will of Fire is that our village is one big family. We are to love, cherish, fight for, and protect everyone in the village. It’s what makes us so strong. We fight for our friends and family, not for the mission. Naruto, we are one of the few people left that still believe in all of the previous Hokages’ dream of Konoha.”

“What…what do you mean?”

“Naruto,” Kakashi sighed, “all the shinobi are on that drug.”

Naruto was starting to accept this, “How? Then why aren’t you? Why didn’t affect me?”

“You, my guess is the nine-tailed demon fox in your stomach burns off the drug before it can affect you. But don’t take them. You don’t need to get hooked on it.”

“Oh, well, I guess thanks furball,” Naruto said rubbing his stomach, “But how come you aren’t? Wait- this isn’t a trick right?! You didn’t find out and really going to kill me now?”

Naruto started freaking out again and Kakashi sighed, “Naruto, I’m a jounin. If I wanted to kill you, I would’ve done it already.”

Naruto looked Kakashi up and down, “What about you?”

Kakashi pointed to his mask, “This does wonders. Which reminds me,” Kakashi pulled out an extra mask from absolutely nowhere. “I think you should wear this from now on.”

“Why? I don’t want to!”

Kakashi sighed rubbing his only visible eyebrow. “Naruto, I need you to. If they find out the drug doesn’t work on you, they’ll kill you. And I can’t lose another precious person,” Kakashi looked desperately at Naruto who looked back with wide eyes.

“What?” Naruto said on the verge of tears.

“You can’t show any emotion. You have to follow orders with no hesitation. But you-”

“No, you said, am I a precious person to you?”

Tears threatened to spill from Kakashi’s lone eye, “Yes, Naruto. You’re the only one I have left.”

“I *sniffle* I never had a precious person before.” Naruto’s eyes welled with tears, “Kakashi-sensei, I don’t know if I can do this.”

Kakashi moved to sit next to Naruto on the bed, he placed a gloved hand on his head and ruffled his blonde locks, “You have to, and you will.”

Naruto looked at the mask in his hand. He stared at it and he honestly didn’t know how to put it on. Kakashi saw his hesitation, and so he slowly moved down and took the cloth from the 12-year-old. As he put the mask over his head he said symbolically, “When you wear this mask, you will never show emotion. You will follow orders. And you will not hesitate to kill.”

Naruto’s blue eyes met his. Kakashi continued, “But most of all, you’ll always remember that those who break the rules are scum. But those who abandon their friends are even worse than scum.”

Naruto gasped and gawked at Kakashi. Before he could tell his body otherwise, his arms wrapped around Kakashi’s waist in a desperate hug for some form of contact with a human being.

Kakashi stilled at the sudden contact, but then melted himself into the boy’s need for affection. He felt his shirt get wet against his skin and realized Naruto was crying. Kakashi smiled to himself a little sadly, and cautiously pulled down Naruto’s mask.

He felt his own eyes start to prickle, and he stealthily tugged down his own mask while Naruto’s face was buried in his side.

Naruto’s breathing eventually evened out, telling Kakashi that he had cried himself to sleep. Kakashi wiped his own tears on his sleeve and pulled his mask back up.

He tried to reposition Naruto, but the kid had a death grip on his shirt. Kakashi sighed to himself and relented. He pulled up Naruto’s mask to cover his little nose.

Kakashi found himself nodding off until he himself succumbed to sleep.

_Something was sprayed on his face, and instinctively he kawarimied out his mask. Why was he getting drugged? And with what?_

_Kakashi lazily looked around at his fellow jounin. Something seemed off. Something had changed. They were acting strangely like… him._

_…_

_He watched his teammates blindly follow orders. Teammates he had personally taught to always put their friends before the mission. He watched as his comrade left another to die. He watched as enemies were ruthlessly murdered. He watched as no one seemed to care._

_He put aside his feelings. He put his emotions away in a little box. He slowly lost hope._

_…_

_He watched his genin team kill their friends. No remorse. No hesitation. He watched as Sasuke drove a kunai into Naruto’s heart. He watched as Naruto fell to a heap. He flashed to the scene of Minato splattered in blood from the Kyuubi’s claw through his stomach. All he saw was blood. Rin. Obito. The tears he had been holding back for so long spilled out of his eyes without his control._

_His friends jumped down around him, holding pills in their hands. They fought against him until he was too exhausted to keep it up. They pulled down his masked and shoved the pills down his throat._

_Then he really felt lik- Then he stopped feeling. He formed the hands signs for the Chidori and heard the chirping of a thousand birds. Bringing his arm to up to make his face glow blue, he plunged his arm through his own chest._

Kakashi awoke with a start. He observed his position on the small bed. While he was lying on a small fraction of the bed, Naruto was sprawled out on the other ¾ of the mattress, using Kakashi’s flack jacket as a pillow.

Kakashi observed the drool coming out of the kid’s mouth onto his jacket. He couldn’t hold back a smile and rested his hand onto the blonde boy’s head.  _“Minato-sensei, I’ll protect him, I swear.”_

Naruto fussed in his sleep, clearly having a bad dream. He shifted awake and also noticed his position on the older shinobi. “Kaka-sensei,” he slurred in his half-awake state.

“Hmmm?”

“Can’t we just stop them from taking the pills?”

“I’ve seen a few who I tried to save, they went mad and… they are no longer with us. The withdrawal could also be deadly.”

Naruto wrinkled his nose, clearly not comprehending what Kakashi said. Sighing he simplified, “No. It’s complicated, but we can’t.”

“I don’t care, dattebayo. I’m going to save them, I promise you. I’m gonna save…” Kakashi was moving Naruto onto his own pillow in his sleepy state. With one last breath before he succumbed to sleep he exhaled, “everyone.” He resumed his soft snores.

Kakashi slipped off the bed and pulled up the covers on the boy. He touched his head one last time, swiping his thumb over his forehead, “I hope you do, Naruto. I hope you do.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That’s it for chapter 3! I hope things are starting to make more sense. Let me know if you have questions!  
> Basically, the drug takes away their abilities to feel emotions, process emotions (like Sasuke noticed the physical features of Naruto’s emotions but didn’t understand that he was feeling anything), and store emotional memory. So killing someone does not make them feel sad or guilty. They know that killing means to end another’s life, but it doesn’t feel wrong.  
> If you think of the different lobes and functions of the brain, try to assume that everything else but the limbic system is working properly. They maintain their personality, what they like and don’t like, what they are good at, weak in. They still have memories of their life before the drug and may still believe in certain things (like Sasuke believes he’s superior but feels no pride/ Sakura will place Sasuke higher of importance than Naruto, but doesn’t feel any love or infatuation towards Sasuke).   
> With the following orders, remember that psych study by Stanley Milgram, in which people were delivering potential lethal shocks to the “learner” just because they were told to? This is what that drug taps into. It’s not that they have to follow orders, but they are highly compelled to (Iruka analyzing what “exactly” his orders said to do and how he found a loophole). This is where the natural reinforcement chemical of dopamine kicks in. They essentially get “high” on receiving and following orders. It’s the only thing that resembles happiness and pleasure for them. The only thing that not following orders will do is not let them get high, or feel “punishment.”  
> The reason they can’t get off the drug is one it is highly addictive, and will put them in severe withdrawal. It messes with dopamine levels, so taking them off it can cause severe depression. Mix that with the fact they’ve been killing people like animals and leaving their friends to die for the mission… it doesn’t end well. Messing with such a primitive part of the brain, it could really mess someone up and just make them unfunctional or unsafe to others.  
> Note: I am NOT a neurologist, psychologist, or expert on anything brain related. This story is completely fictional, and while I’m trying to base it on some science, it’s not going to be 100% accurate or real. Just keep that it mind and just kind of “accept” the drug for what it does and let the story continue.


	4. Bell Test

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kakashi wishes they were still scared stupid little genin.

Naruto woke up on the day that his first training day was scheduled. He looked at himself in the mirror.

Trying to get all of his emotions out before he met up with his teammates, he made funny faces in the mirror, sad faces, angry faces, and just plain goofy and silly faces.

He ran through all the dialogue the “unmasked” Naruto would say: “Sakura, would you go on a date with me? Everyone’s all Sasuke Sasuke Sasuke.You’re a jackass Sasuke. No one gives a fuck that you’re an Uchiha. *whine* *whine* *whine* *mope* Hooray! YEAH! I’m the best!! I will be Hokage, dattebayo! I love ramen, ramen, RAMEN!!! *grump grump grump* ha ha… hehe.. tehe. HAHAHAHA!! Ha.. haaa…”

Naruto looked at himself with sorry eyes. He stared into his own blue oceans and let the emotions wash over him. His eyes started to water, and then the dam broke.

He fell to the floor and hugged his knees to his chest.  

“…”

“No. no. NO!” He yelled at himself. “I am Naruto fucking Uzumaki and you better believe it! I will save everyone! Me. Naruto Uzumaki! And then I will be Hokage! Datte-fucking-bayo!”

Naruto picked himself up, slid on his new mask from Kakashi, and walked out of his apartment with an expressionless face.

* * *

Naruto arrived at training ground 7 at 4:55am. He hadn’t eaten as instructed, although he really, really wanted to.

Sasuke and Sakura arrived together promptly at 5am. Neither had eaten.

“You’re early,” Sasuke said with his eyes narrowed.

“The instructions said to come at 5am,” Sakura backed up Sasuke.

 _“Great I’ve already fucked up.”_ Naruto kept his eyes steeled, “I arrived at 5am according to my clock.”

“Your clock is wrong,” Sakura chimed in.

“Thank you,” Naruto replied, “I’ll fix that when I get home.”

“Why are you wearing a mask?” Sasuke questioned, eyes narrow as ever.

“Kakashi-sensei told me to,” Naruto tried with confidence.

“Why?” asked Sakura.

 _“Fuck, fuck, fuck, think of something Naruto. Think think think,”_ After looking semi-constipated, he said in a low growl, “Are you questioning our sensei’s orders?”

Sakura would have looked shocked if she could’ve reacted. “No. No, I’m sorry.”

Naruto caught a glimpse of something in her eyes, he could have sworn it! Sakura became quiet and withdrawn from the group.

Naruto wanted to shout, _“Are you freakin kidding me? That little comment and she’s all depressed! It wasn’t even a direct order from Kakashi. My plan is going to need more than rehab for these people. They’re getting high as kites and I can’t even feel anything cause of the stupid fox.”_

Naruto calmed down and finally relaxed, _“Sorry, Kyuubi. You’re actually helping. I shouldn’t have gotten mad at you.”_

All the while, Naruto had been silent and face was frozen. The mask was doing him wonders.

6 hours later, Kakashi showed up eye-smiling.

“Morning, folks.”

“You’re late!” Sasuke and Sakura said in unison. “-late,” Naruto had tried to take their cue but merely echoed.

“Ah, it was only _your_ instructions to show up here at 5am, not mine now was it?”

Sakura and Sasuke stared at him, but kept their mouths shut, nodding slowly.

 _“Finding loopholes, huh you asshole.”_ Naruto’s smirk was hid well by his mask.

“Today’s mission,” he said pulling out two bells from his pocket, “is to take these bells away from me before noon.” He set a small alarm clock on a stump, visible for all to see.

“If you do not get a bell, you will be tied to a stump and not receive lunch.” As if on cue, each of their stomachs rumbled. No one said a word, no one questioned the jounin, so he continued, “Since there are only two bells, at least one of you will be tied to the stump. And to make it more interesting…” His eyes became dark and he leaked killer intent to show he was serious, “at least one of you, but potentially all of you, who is tied to the post will fail the mission and die.”

It took everything in Naruto not to react to those words. But thankfully, at least he tried to tell himself, he knew Kakashi would not kill them. After all, he had said, those who abandon their friends are worse than scum.

“You have permission to come at me with the intent to kill me. If you don’t, you won’t be able to take a bell. We’ll begin when I say start.”

The genin readied themselves.

“Readdyyyy?? Start!” _“I was going to fake them out, but Naruto totally would have fallen for it and blown his cover.”_

Sakura and Sasuke fled to take cover, masking their presence.

Naruto stood in the clearing, staring at Kakashi.

“Uhh, you’re a bit slow on the uptake, hmm?” chuckled Kakashi. He eyed Naruto, “Your other teammates fled and took cover.”

“I’m not like them!” Naruto ‘stated.’ _(“In more ways than one”)_

“Ohhh??” Kakashi drawled, trying not to make a big scene of Naruto looking different.

“No. There’s something about this test, something you’re not telling us!”

Kakashi would have smirked but settled for a fake eye-smile instead, _“Did he figure it out? He better not say I told him. I was hoping he’d be a little more dense.”_

“Oh, and what’s that?”

Naruto stared at the ground, _“He would never actually kill one of us, so what is this test about?”_

He looked up, meeting Kakashi in the eye, “I’m not sure yet, but I know this doesn’t make sense.”

Kakashi sweatdropped, “Yep. He’s that dense.”

Naruto reminded himself to not show emotion or else he would have lost it on Kakashi. Instead he grated his teeth under the safety of his mask. Kakashi had pulled out a book from his pouch, “Oops, did I say that out loud?”

Naruto charged with a serious of kicks and punches that were easily blocked by the book worm. He never realized Kakashi got behind him until it was too late. Just for sick kicks, and because he was getting some ideas from his Icha Icha, he coated his fingers in chakra with a little bit of fire affinity to it. He shoved four fingers- FOUR fucking fingers! up Naruto’s asshole, launching the boy into the air.

Naruto moaned, or screamed, or maybe a bit of both. It was muddled in the air, but the other two were focused on Kakashi saying, “Shinobi arts lesson #1: Taijutsu. 1000 years of death.”

Thank god Naruto landed in the river, the cooling sensation enough to calm down his bit of a boner from the jutsu. He let himself sink to the bottom while waiting for the embarrassing hardness to become flaccid.

Meanwhile, Kakashi had put Sakura into a genjutsu that she was able to get herself out of after a few minutes. Kakashi noted that Sasuke was no longer something she loved, and therefore she felt nothing when seeing a genjutsu of him dying. They engaged in a short battle of taijutsu, in which the jounin was just too fast for her, and she ended up being tied up in a tree. Ironically, the same rope meant for a trap for Naruto. Yep, just Naruto.

Sasuke had tried to find a point when Kakashi let his guard down. “There.” Sasuke threw a battery of shuriken and kunai at Kakashi as he was tying up Sakura. Just when it looked like the weapons had impaled him, a log appeared in his place.

“Tch. Substitution jutsu. Now he’ll know where I am.”

“That’s right,” Kakashi said behind him.

Acting quickly, Sasuke jumped back, landing on the ground. Kakashi followed, book in hand. Sasuke blurred behind him for a kick, but Kakashi blocked, holding his leg. So Sasuke used his arm. Kakashi grabbed it. So Sasuke used his other arm, blocked. His..other leg..? Damn just how flexible is this kid!?

Kakashi jumped back and put away his book. “You’ll find I’m not like the other two,” the Uchiha stated.

“You’re right. I had to put away my little book,” replied Kakashi.

After a match in taijutsu in which Kakashi fucked with Sasuke and let him think he had a small fraction of a chance to touch the bells on his waist, Sasuke got fed up and blurred through handsigns for his Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu.

Kakashi thought to himself that the Uchiha shouldn’t have enough chakra for this jutsu yet, but shrugged it off since his team was probably going to be a bunch of freaks anyways. Kakashi used Earth Style: Headhunter Jutsu during the attack to travel underground right underneath Sasuke.

Kakashi did him dirty like a reverse wack-a-mole game. “Shinobi arts #3: Ninjutsu.”

At this point, Kakashi was being bombarded by 10 Naruto clones, some of which snuck up behind him, but he easily replaced himself so that the Naruto’s fought with one another and not him.

_“Although the kid’s an idiot, he’s a chakra monster. That many clones, and it’s been what, five minutes? Most jounin can only make three at most, and then they don’t last long either.”_

With that, the alarm clock rang and none of them had gotten a bell.

“None of you managed to get a bell,” Kakashi lazily stated, “That means all of you should die.”

None of the three genin, except for Naruto internally, showed any expression towards that statement.

“I would tell all of you to quit being ninja, but I don’t have the power to make you do that. Although Naruto knew there was something else behind the test, none of you understood the true meaning behind this mission. Why do you think you are put in three-man squads?”

“To increase the success of a mission,” Sakura stated like a robot.

“So why did I bother with this particular mission?” He really wanted them to try to push the envelope.

“It makes no sense given our instructions and consequences of the mission,” replied Sasuke.

Kakashi sighed, “You’re right. But the answer is teamwork. You might have been able to take the bells if all three of you came at me together. Yes, there were only two bells, but if you had worked together you would have passed. Part of a mission is to look underneath the underneath, that’s what it means to be a ninja. Never forget that. It’s true that individual skills are important for a shinobi, but squads that have poor teamwork are doomed to fail their missions. Follow this order and never forget this: Teamwork is your highest priority in a mission.” _“There’s not even a point in drilling into their heads the life of a shinobi and the importance of teamwork. Life and death consequences with no fear mean nothing, at least not to those two. They won’t care. But an order is an order. Maybe, maybe I’ll explain to Naruto later.”_

Sasuke and Sakura nodded, filing away the ‘order’ for later use.

 “Although I’ve given you the answer, I’ll give you another try after lunch. And as your sensei, I make the rules and you follow them, got it?” He received a quick nod from each genin. “Good. I’m tying up…Sasuke since he was the closest to getting a bell. Sakura, Naruto, you may eat but do not feed any to Sasuke. If either of you feed him, you will all fail.”

Kakashi poofed away to a nearby tree to observe. He wasn’t expecting much, honestly. But hey, underneath the underneath, a lesson they’d soon learn again and again. The ninja world was full of deception, and with those pills, they were more easily susceptible to it. And Naruto was just an idiot.

Naruto could hear Sasuke’s stomach growling. Sakura was eating her bento, not making eye contact with Sasuke at all. Naruto thought about everything. He didn’t want to mess up, he really didn’t. But Sasuke, Sasuke was his teammate, and a shell of his former… well it was complicated, but let’s say friend.

He picked at his food in thought until a piece of shrimp was on his chopsticks and shoved into Sasuke’s mouth before he could protest. He swallowed at risk of choking on it, but a look of apathy washed across his normally sullen face.

“Naruto, you idiot! What are you doing? Kakashi-sensei told us not to feed Sasuke! How could you go against his orders like that?”

Naruto sat there thoughtfully. Maybe he should’ve thought this through. But with years of pranking experience on his belt, and a knack for coming up with things on the spot, he knew that Kakashi wouldn’t have left him hanging like this. There had to be something the jounin had said to back him up. Ah!

“Sakura, I’m merely prioritizing orders. Kakashi-sensei said our top priority was teamwork. With Sasuke going hungry, he will be a liability to the team and he was the closest to getting a bell last time. Sensei said to look underneath the underneath, what if this is another test?”

Before Sakura could answer and ruin the whole thing with her fucked up brain chemistry, Kakashi poofed back in but couldn’t even fake anger now (Danzo-sama has to take away all his small joys in life) and approvingly throwing a thumbs up said, “You all pass. No need to kill you now. Good work Naruto. Your success is your team’s success. Looking underneath the underneath and prioritizing orders. As I said, I make the rules for this squad. And my first and foremost rule is teamwork. You should always prioritize the life of a comrade when completing a mission.”

Kakashi looked down at the ground thinking to himself, _“Insert Obito Uchiha’s quote here. *sigh* It’s not like the other two will get it. I might get reported if I phrase it in a way that the mission is not top priority. And throwing out the shinobi code, yeah that won’t look suspicious.”_

He trailed his eyes up to look at Naruto, who he could tell was holding himself back from positively beaming, _“At least I have Naruto. Obito’s will can live on through him. I just have to believe in him.”_

Sakura answered, “Yes, sensei.”

Sasuke, “Hmn.”

Kakashi noticed their body language was off, probably no dopamine for their happy-drained brains. He clapped his hands, “Yosh! Let’s start with some physical training!” (A part of him just died because he was sounding too much like his friend Gai these days. He kind of missed the old emotional Gai, caring friend and rival. It just wasn’t as fun to fuck with him anymore now that his emotions were turned off).

Naruto actually brightened at the thought since he wouldn’t have to interact or say something out of place. Running, easy. Push-ups, easy. Pretending you have no emotions, borderline psychotic.

* * *

Towards dinner time, Kakashi dismissed his team, “We’ll be doing our first D-rank mission tomorrow. Meet here at 9am (He wasn’t getting up any earlier). Be sure to take care of yourselves and get adequate rest.”

Kakashi had to remember to keep his orders general and specific enough at the same time. Can’t say anything like ‘go home and get some rest’ or they might not eat dinner. This whole thing, creating the perfect soldiers, were they even human anymore?

Kakashi poofed into a nearby tree, watching the group pack up and split in their separate ways. Once Sasuke and Sakura were out of sight, he poofed back in front of Naruto, startling him.

“Acting surprised like that just might get you killed,” Kakashi said seriously.

“Sorry, sensei,” Naruto muttered, “It’s hard to stop those kind of reactions.”

“You’ll need to work on it. Train your body not to respond. I had to before the idea of the stupid pills came out. It’s also a part of being a good ninja.”

Naruto nodded solemnly.

“Listen, Naruto. I wanted to show you something.” Kakashi walked the boy over to the memorial stone, “This stone had all the names of shinobi that died in action fighting for the Will of Fire. The reason I stress teamwork is because one day, you may be faced with an impossible choice: save your teammates or finish the mission.”

His hands slid across two names, fingertips feeling the grooves in the rocks. Is he really doing this? Is he going to let himself open up to the boy? He had no one left. No one. Maybe, just maybe, it was time to let someone in. He couldn’t keep up this act forever, even if it was HIS act to begin with.

“These two were my teammates,” Naruto watched as his sensei’s fingers danced over the names Obito Uchiha and Rin Nohara, “It was Obito who told me those who abandon their friends are worse than scum, and because I had prioritized the mission at the time, he died. And Rin,” Kakashi stared hard at the names on the stone, “I couldn’t keep my promise to Obito. I failed.”

His fingers trailed over the name Minato Namikaze, “I lost my sensei, too. He died to protect the entire village. He’s the savior of Konoha.”

Kakashi gulped down any emotion, he had already shed his tears, mourned their deaths. He was a shinobi, and shinobi don’t cry.

He quickly spread out his chakra, searching for anyone who might be spying nearby. Deeming it safe, he still cautiously told Naruto to make ten clones. “Get into your taijutsu stance.”

While it looked like he was correcting the flaws in each of the clones’ stances, he was actually whispering down the line to them, “If anything were to happen to me, get out of the village immediately and find a man named Jiraiya. He’s one of the three legendary Sannin, the Toad Sage. You’ll most likely find him peeping on women.”

Once he got to the tenth clone, and commanded Naruto to dispel them all. With a poof of smoke they all vanished, Naruto looking incredibly confused at Kakashi.

“Shadow clones come with a bonus. Whatever memory your clone has, it will come back to you once you dispel it. So now your taijutsu stance should be ten times better!” He eye-smiled, hoping Naruto got the message.

Naruto nodded in understanding, piecing together what Kakashi had said to each of his clones. He pierced his bright blue eyes up at Kakashi, wondering why he had told him that.

“Maa, maa, go home Uzumaki. Take care of yourself. See you tomorrow, 9am sharp.”

With that Kakashi poofed away, and Naruto started his trek home alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Be sure to comment if you like what you read.


	5. Wave Mission Gone Wild

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Wave Mission without emotions...?  
> Part 1/2

They had been doing D-rank missions for a month straight. Naruto was tired of it. His act of holding his emotions in, it was exhausting as hell.

There had been times, actually several times, where Kakashi had ordered them to do simple, but stupid things, just because he could. And Naruto HAD to comply, or it would blow his cover. He'd go home at night and throw his pillow into the wall, repeatedly punching it into the wall and pretending it was Kakashi's face.

After another Tora the demon cat from hell mission, Team 7 stood in front of the Hokage and did something no one had expected.

"Excuse me, Hokage-sama, but I would like to make a request?" the Uchiha voiced.

"Good ahead, Sasuke-kun," Danzo-sama replied.

"If you allow it, I would like to request a C-rank mission for our team."

Danzo-sama look mildly intrigued but asked, "Sasuke-kun, is your dream to avenge your clan and kill your brother?"

Naruto bit his tongue in response to the new information about Sasuke. Why would he want to kill his own brother? Naruto himself would kill for a family.

"It is not so much a dream, but more of an ambition."

"I see. I hear you've awoken the sharingan, but you have yet to use it against an enemy of Konoha?"

"That is correct, sir."

Danzo-sama looked dubious replying, "Then I have the perfect mission for you. Bring him in."

And thus, the mission to the Land of Waves began.

* * *

It was a day or so into their journey on foot, since Mr. Tazuna was not a ninja, that the Demon Brothers made their appearance.

Kakashi had made a big show of himself being torn to threads when in reality he had easily kawarimied to safety easily. He watched where the two chunin were going to attack, but his eye got fixated on Naruto.

 _"Goddamnit!"_  The kid had froze. No ninja on the pill would freeze. Kakashi quickly made a shadow clone and henged it into Naruto.

Before the clone could reach him, Naruto received a nasty gash on his hand from the poison blade of the enemy nin. A second later, the Demon Brother #1 was flat on his ass, most likely concussed, and definitely out cold, from Naruto's (Kakashi's) shadow clone.

Of course Sasuke and Sakura had easily sprung into action. Sasuke was on the verge of defeating his opponent when Kakashi blurred in, catching the Demon Brother #2 by the neck and slamming him to the ground.

Kakashi tied up the two brother chunins and left them to be picked up by Konoha. When he turned he heard Sakura say, "Naruto, you're bleeding."

"What?" He looked at his hand in disbelief.

"If you hadn't stood there like an idiot, you wouldn't have gotten hurt," Sasuke said matter-of-factly.

 _"Heh, at least he still has his asshole I'm-better-than-you personality,"_  thought Naruto.

"Ah, but it was a good ruse to fool the enemy, and then using a shadow clone to sneak up when they least expected. Good work, all three of you. I used kawarimi in a rouse to see who the Demon Brothers were after. Mr. Tazuna, looks like we have something to discuss."

Naruto would have hung his head in shame, full knowing it was not his shadow clone that saved him.

While Kakashi half listened to the client explain his sad story about Gato and the state of the Wave and his lack of money, he sauntered over to Naruto and looked at his hand.

"Those blades were poisoned, you'll have to let the wound bleed out or you might (well maybe not) die."

Kakashi reached for a kunai to do it himself when Naruto pulled back and plunged his own kunai into his hand with great resolve in his eyes.  _"I will never freeze up like that again and risk my comrades lives."_

As if Kakashi could hear what he was thinking, he gave a curt nod and began bandaging Naruto's hand. He noticed the wound was already starting to heal, which he pointed out quickly to Naruto to alleviate some of his anxiety. "The fox," he whispered as he finished bandaging the wound.

Kakashi stood up announcing this mission was now a higher rank than originally planned but they would continue anyway.

Sakura protested this was against mission protocol and the client would have to put in a new request. Sasuke agreed, saying the mission was over and they should return to Konoha.

* * *

Time seemed to stop for Kakashi. His brain was firing neurons twice as fast. He knew. He knew deep down inside he had to help this man. It was Obito's legacy. Obito would have said to continue on the mission. Just like Obito helped old ladies across the street, Kakashi wanted to help this old man across his bridge.

He knew the man would never be able to afford the mission, at least not right now. And without their protection, they would all be slaughtered by Gato's men. If they at least built the bridge, he could pay back the mission debt eventually.

But then there were these two. These two fucking warped human beings. It sickened him to no end that he would never be able to teach these genin why they became ninja in the first place. The Will of Fire, to protect and fight for the people of the village. Minato-sensei had taught him that.

But now, he was acting out of character. He was acting as if he had a heart. When they got back to Konoha, Sasuke and Sakura would report him like the obedient little shits they were.

He was the jounin here. They were his genin. He gave the orders. And yet they were questioning him. Because he was questioning the shinobi code. The rules. Rules that he had once regarded as 'his precious.' Rules that killed Obito. And rules that, ironically, would kill him too.

_Minato-sensei- What happened? How? How did we get to this place? Why can't things go back to the way they were?_

Kakashi got a grip. HE was in charge. And he, better than anyone, knew the shinobi rules by heart.

He turned towards his mouthy genin and lost all brightness from his eyes, "Shinobi rule number four: Shinobi must always but the mission first. Shinobi rule number three: Shinobi must always follow their commander's instructions. I am your jounin commander. You do not question my orders, you follow them. My order is to put this mission first, the mission we set out to take. We will keep the bridge builder safe and complete our mission. The rank and payment for the mission can be redetermined and fulfilled at a later date. That does not take priority. Are we clear genin?"

"Yes, sir!" They chimed in unison. Naruto could not have been happier on the inside.

* * *

Thick mist, impossibly heavy sword? Yep. Kirigakure missing-nin Zabuza Momochi, murderer for hire is here!

Kakashi and Zabuza played a little game of cat and water clone until Kakashi did the stupidest thing possible he could have done when fighting someone with a water affinity. Jump into the water!

And so, Kakashi was (suffocating?) trapped in a water prison that actually made Zabuza extremely vulnerable to attack since he couldn't move his arm or else the water prison would break.

Kakashi yelled for his team to "Run away!" and Naruto, like an idiot, stood his ground while Sasuke and Sakura high-tailed it out of there, client in tough.

"Naruto, you're no match for Zabuza! Run away and protect the client."

"What the fuck sensei? Can't practice what you preach? Those who abandon the rules are scum, that's true. But those who abandon their friends are worse than scum! Was everything you taught me for nothing? Was it all just a lie? Naruto Uzumaki is not a coward, believe it! I never go back on my word, and I never give up, that's MY shinobi rules and I'll be damned if I don't follow them!"

Zabuza laughed, "That's a good moto, kid. Too bad you're going to be too dead to live by it."

Zabuza dispersed his water clones, that quickly came after Naruto in a blur. In response, Naruto dodged the best he could, but ended up being sliced quite a few times from the mist swordsman.

"Naruto, please. I can't lose another precious person. Get out of here and leave me!" Kakashi begged, slowly drowning..?

With the mention of precious person, Naruto had no choice but to tug his mask down. Zabuza looked surprised but then quipped, "That's it? Just some whiskers? They aren't going to help you out much here kid. Do as your sensei said and teammates did, just run away before I kill you."

"NO! I will not lose my only precious person! I will save Kakashi,  **and I will defeat you**!" His voiced became low and grumbled, like some other being was mixed in with it. The whisker marks on his cheeks darkened and widened. His canines and nails elongated. The most notable change, however, was his eyes.

Red. Blood red. Slits like a cat. Fox. (Because I know what a fox looks like?)

"You look like a cat," Zabuza said. (Thank you)

 **"I'll kill you!"**  The Kyuubi-Naruto roared. A massive amount of chakra spiked, glowing red around the boy. "Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu."

An impossible number of 1000 shadow clones appeared on the shore and up in the trees surrounding the waters edge.

 _"So this is how Mizuki was defeated…"_  Kakashi thought to himself.

Naruto couldn't walk on water, but he could throw weapons. 500 kunai rained down on Zabuza. He swiped most of them out of the way with his sword, but the shear number of them and speed in which they approached, he was stuck with a few in his arms and legs. Still he didn't let go of his water prison. He formed more water clones, that started decimating Naruto's line of shadows clones with ease.

With another battle cry, Naruto transformed 250 clones into large shuriken and threw them at the mist nin. He dodged them for the most part, slashing others, creating a huge smoke of clone residue. Unable to see, he missed the Naruto shuriken that transformed back into Naruto, who threw their kunai at him. With almost 25 kunai sticking out of him in various parts of his body, Kakashi was free from the water prison.

Kakashi went to make his move on the bleeding Zabuza, when a hunter nin jumped down and scooped the man up. "I will take care of Zabuza."

Before Kakashi could get out another word, the Hunter nin disappeared from sight with his master. He made a move to follow him when he realized Naruto wasn't on the shore.

In fact, Naruto was no where around. He panicked until he saw red blurring in with the blue of the waters he was easily walking on. "Oh fuck, I haven't taught them water walking yet."

He reached down into the water and grabbed the sinking blonde by his jacket. He hoisted him to shore and began performing CPR.

"Who. Passes. Out. On. Top. Of. Water!" With the last pump, Naruto was rolling to his side, coughing up the water form his lungs.

Kakashi looked the boy over and realized most if not all of his serious cuts from before had healed. Small red lines of skin showed the extent of the blade, but they were no longer the deep bloody cuts from before.

Naruto looked up at him with hazy blue eyes, smiling. "Did we win?"

"You did, Naruto. You did." He pulled the blonde's mask up over his face, "Thank you."

He set the boy onto his back in piggy-back style. "Kaka-sensei, I'm really happy you're ok."

"No more feeling Naruto. And this battle never happened. Zabuza attacked you and that's all you remember."

"Whatever you say, Baka-sensei…" when Kakashi looked over his shoulder, the boy was fast asleep.

* * *

After following the scent of his genin and client, Kakashi arrived to a small house.

With a curt knock, the door opened to reveal the bridge builder's daughter.

"Yo, Kakashi Hatake, jounin leader of the shinobi team protecting Mr. Tazuna."

Sasuke activated his sharingan, "It's the real Kakashi. Let him in."

"What happened?" Sakura asked.

"Zabuza attacked Naruto as he was retreating. Naturally, he defended himself, distracting Zabuza. I was able to break free and neutralize Zabuza."

"Is he dead?" asked Sasuke.

"No, I believe he will be coming back. It appears he had an accomplice posing as a hunter-nin that fled with him before I could finish the job."

Sasuke nodded in approval of the story – not that Kakashi needed his approval in the first place.

"If Naruto was attacked, why doesn't he look hurt?" asked Sakura. She didn't care about the blonde's health, it was more like the facts weren't adding up. Wouldn't she have noticed if Naruto was right behind them and got stopped by Zabuza?

"Ah," Kakashi said casually. He pulled back Naruto's shirt, revealing several wounds that were long but shallow across his shoulder, arms, and chest.

"They just look like scratches," declared Sakura.

"No," said Sasuke, "the same thing happened back in the Academy. Whenever Naruto got hurt, it healed very quickly. I bet," Sasuke quickly unwrapped Naruto's hand that Demon Brother #1 had sliced open before, "just as I thought."

His hand was perfectly healed, not even a scar to show where the wound once was. "How?" Sasuke demanded of Kakashi, "How can I attain this power?"

"Hmm," Kakashi glanced away, "It is a power just like your sharingan Sasuke."

"Bloodline," Sasuke muttered.

"Exactly. Uzumaki's are known for their longevity, large amounts of chakra, and their regenerative abilities."  _("And a little help from the nine-tailed demon fox")_

"Tch," Sasuke turned on his heel and walked away.

"Good work bringing the client to safety, you two. I'm going to put Naruto somewhere to rest and then we'll talk about the plan."

Tazuna led Kakashi upstairs to the room he could share with Naruto. Sasuke and Sakura would be sharing the other room.

Kakashi tucked the boy under the covers, and rested his hand on top of his forehead protectively. Cranking his neck backwards, he stared at the ceiling lost in thought.

_"I've certainly neglected their training, that much is true. *sigh* I thought for sure if anything happened on the mission I'd be able to easily take care of it. Now I've got a missing nin coming after us, and two Danzo Drones who are just on the edge of reporting my suspicious behavior to the Hokage prick himself._

_"I didn't train them in fear of them just becoming more soldiers to fuel Danzo's army. But now there's Naruto,"_ he takes his eyes off the ceiling to bring them to the blonde's resting face. _"He deserves a teacher. A better sensei than me. He needs to grow strong so he can help save us all. It's been 12 years, and yet… and yet I've done nothing._

_"Stuck in the ANBU, forced to put the mission over my friends. So many more deaths on my hands, I don't know how much more I can take before I reach my breaking point. But Naruto, so like his father. So young and naïve, he hasn't been corrupted like I have._

_"So I have to train him. Help him carry on Minato-sensei's will. And the other two, it's not fair for me not to train them. What if my lack of training gets them killed on out in the field? They have no fear, yet they lack the skills. Had they fought Zabuza, two more names would have been added to the memorial stone._

_"I need to pull myself together. I'M the jounin sensei. I've cast away my emotions and feelings for years without any damn pills. It's my duty to protect my comrades, by teaching them to protect themselves._

_"I guess I'll start them on tree climbing… easy enough. *Sigh*"_  He glanced back up at the ceiling as if it might give him some more guidance.  _"How the fuck am I going to be able to report this mission."_

Leaving his subordinate, he sauntered downstairs and eyed the two drones awaiting orders. "Come on you two, let's get to training, shall we?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Danzo-sama totally knew it wasn't C-rank let's be honest.
> 
> Whoops found a mistake in the plot and edited it, sorry about that!


	6. Haku

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wave part 2/2

Naruto was laying on the grass, taking the moment of blissful silence to himself. The cool wind brushed his cheeks and for once, everything felt ok.

He had been training on the tree walking exercise and wanted to stay all night until he got it. Kakashi hadn't said no, even when the others turned back.

He had been exhausted, but he had finally gotten it. And now, just waking up with sleepy eyes but feeling brand new, he slowly came to awareness.

A girl- a boy? - a... gender unspecified and neutral Haku was peering over him, long hair stretching down to tickle his nose.

"What are you doing here, sleeping on the grass? If you're out all night you'll catch a cold." Haku said.

"Pffft, unlikely," Naruto muttered, "but I was out here training, I'm going to be a shinobi!"

"Why?" Asked Haku.

"...well I guess at first I wanted to be a shinobi to be the best and be acknowledged but now..." Naruto trailed off.

"I see. If I was a ninja, I'd fight for my precious person. Do you have a special precious person?"

Naruto's eyes went a little misty but still he looked up at Haku and confirmed, "Yeah, I do. I only have one, though. There are others I want to save, because they are lost right now, and once I do they'll be my precious people too..."

"One is all you need. You should fight for your precious person, not yourself. That is how you can become genuinely strong."

"You know what, you're right...uhh.. what's your name?"

"It's Haku. And you, shinobi?"

"Naruto Uzumaki, future Hokage of the Hidden Leaf Village, believe it!"

"Hmm, you're not a typical Leaf ninja are you?"

"No, I'm not, I'm better than all of them!" Naruto shouted excitedly. Then hands shot to his mouth, realizing his mistake. Flustered, he quickly shot out, "I mean, *clears throat and lowers voice* My name is Naruto Uzumaki, I am a shinobi from the Hidden Leaf Village...?"

Haku laughed at his idiocy and said thoughtfully, "I'm glad you're not like the rest. From what I've seen, the rest are lowly broken tools with no precious people. I'm a broken tool but I am strong for my precious person. You _are_ better than all of them. Don't worry, I won't tell your secret."

Haku walked away with a soft smile. Naruto smiled and waved after him/her and then furrowed his eye brows, "Wait, are you a girl or a boy?"

Haku didn't turn around but waved back in response. Before Naruto could ask again, he/she was gone.

* * *

 

When Haku was fighting Sasuke on the bridge, he was considering killing him. Haku was not a killer, well, he had done it. For Zabuza. But he generally shied away from the darker side of the ninja arts.

But Sasuke, the poor little fuck, basically had his testicles tied up by the Leaf village, unlike his teammate Naruto.

So Haku was seriously considering putting the boy out of his misery. He wasn't a bad shinobi, even as a genin, but with the way he was programmed to fight, he would easily be killed.

Haku had the advantage because Haku cared. Haku was a tool, it's true. But he had a purpose. He was a tool for Zabuza, the only person to save him, take him in, and give him a relatively stable familial relationship. Haku owed him a great debt, so he went above and beyond for him.

Sasuke was good, Haku had to admit it. The red eyes tracked him well in the mirrors, but it seemed like his body was still too slow to keep up with his tracking. Haku had him beat on speed.

If Haku wanted to kill you, you'd be dead. As he positioned the senbon for a deadly strike, a blur of orange jumped into the tent of mirrors, shielding Sasuke from the final blow.

Haku smiled despite himself and just couldn't bring himself to throw them now.

Instead, Haku did Naruto a huge favor. One Naruto would forever remember and never forgive himself for.

Haku quickly jumped mirrors, threw a rain of senbon at a bleeding Sasuke in a effort to mask the one perfectly aimed to cut the flow of blood just long enough to make him pass out.

With Sasuke unconscious, Haku undid the kekkei genkai jutsu. He blurred past Naruto to strike Sakura an unconscious blow as well, leaving the bridge builder unguarded. Kakashi continued his lockdown of a fight with Zabuza.

Haku stood in front of Naruto who was posed to fight and slowly took off his mask.

With a gasp he exhaled, "Haku."

"Don't worry, you're friends aren't dead. Only unconscious."

Naruto gaped at him, "Why... what are you doing with Zabuza?"

"He's my precious person. I'd do anything for him. I was a broken person but then Zabuza saved me... *cue dramatic flashback and cold winters stained chrisom with blood* so now I am his tool. I would do anything for him. Without him, I lack a purpose."

"But he's the bad guy, dattebayo!"

"In the shinobi world, there is no good or bad, only different sides to the same coin. Naruto, remember that nothing but your precious people in this world matter. Always fight for them no mater what. Only that will bring you happiness and make you truly strong."

Before Naruto could argue, Haku had bodyflickered in front of Kakashi's chidori that was meant for Zabuza, saving his life.

Naruto watched the scene in horror, sparks and blood flying everywhere. Kakashi's eye remained hard as ever. Naruto wondered how many chidoris it had taken to look like that.

Zabuza declared he felt nothing for the boy and that he'd continue on. Naruto poised to argue with him until Kakashi grabbed him by the back of his neck with his clean hand, displaying dominance over him like a dog to a puppy.

Despite his talk, Zabuza loved Haku like a son. He never wanted Haku to be a tool, he wanted him to be family. But he could never dissuade the boy, so he let it drop as long as Haku stayed by his side.

But this sacrifice? _"Damnit Haku! I was the one who was supposed to give my life for you one day! Not the other way around you stupid stupid stupid kid."_

So when Zabuza got the chance to behead the greedy bastard who had hired him and was plunging the Land of Waves into poverty, he didn't even hesitate to murder all his men in front of Gato (with the assistance of Naruto and Kakashi's shadow clones), watch the man shit himself, and slice his head straight off and into the water below.

He turned to Kakashi, "Looks like we are no longer enemies. Take care of that kid," he nodded in Naruto's direction, "I won't tell anyone about you."

He disappeared with Haku in arms. Naruto shrank to the ground, a mess soaked with tears.

Kakashi looked at him with a sad or disappointed expression, Naruto couldn't be sure which, and sighed in exasperation.

"You got lucky this time," he eyed the unconscious other two genin. "Let it all out now, because otherwise, you'd be dead. Emotions are a good thing, but they could get you killed in battle. Leave your emotions at home from now on Naruto. I can't risk losing you too."

Kakashi walked over and pulled down Naruto's mask. He added coldly, "When the mask is on, the emotions are off. We've been over this Naruto. Don't make the mistake again." Naruto sniffled and nodded.

"I'm sorry Kakashi-sensei. You're right. I need to do everything I can for my precious people. If I screw up, it could get you killed. I'll do better from now on."

Kakashi nodded and decided to leave Naruto alone for a while. He took Tazuna, Sasuke, and Sakura back to the bridge builder's house house.

* * *

When Team Seven made to leave, Tazuna noticed a definite and alarming change from the blonde who had been on the bridge. He had no life in his eyes, and he was quiet.

Tazuna declared the name of the bridge as something ridiculous and the Team nodded and began to walk away with Naruto bringing up the rear.

With the bridge builder almost out of sight, Naruto made a shadow clone silently and set him running back to Tazuna with a message.

A few minutes later, Naruto smiled under his mask when his clone popped and he got the memory.

_"Call it the Great Haku Bridge."_

* * *

 

Kakashi was lost in his thoughts as he led his team back to Konoha. Naruto had gone uncharacteristically silent, so the entire walk back to the village was without words.

Kakashi had told Naruto it was ok to be loud and energetic when talking to his teammates, since that was his personality, but on missions he had to become serious and stealthy like a ninja. That meant no yelling his name, no yelling his jutsus, no yelling his nindo. Just. No. Yelling.

Yes, Naruto had messed that up a few more times than Kakashi would have liked, but at least Naruto was still Naruto. And in that regard, at least he had messed up now outside of village, when his teammates were not around.

This mission could have ended a hell of a lot worse. _"At least none of them are dead."_

Kakashi thought back to why this mission had become such a clusterfuck. This was supposed to be a simple C-rank escort mission, easy for new genin, a way to get out of the village.

But, Kakashi reasoned, that's how things USED to be. And the more he thought about it, the more he couldn't get it out of his head that this mission had been a set up.

Had they known? He'd kept up the act for years now, but maybe they caught wind? Or maybe it was Naruto, he was a little too obvious. Maybe this was a test to see if Naruto could be weaponized.

Was Naruto supposed to fail?

Was his team supposed to die?

Was he to show he could betray his genin to complete the mission? Or should he have followed protocol?

_"I see. I hear you've awoken the sharingan, but you have yet to use it against an enemy of Konoha?"_

The words struck Kakashi like lighting to a lightbulb. Of course. The mission HAD been a set up, but not for him. Not for Naruto. For Sasuke.

By the way he phrased it, Danzo had known this mission would be blown to hell, but he wanted Sasuke to have the battle experience. Maybe he overestimated the power of the sharingan considering what Itachi was capable of, but maybe he was trying to get Sasuke to that level, and quickly.

Danzo knew the step above the sharingan was the mangekyo, but would Sasuke be able to achieve it without his emotions? Did Danzo believe that Sasuke could achieve it without killing his best friend?

Or maybe Danzo believed that it was the act of the kill and not the emotion itself? So did that mean Danzo was trying to ultimately get Sasuke to kill Naruto? Was he using this mission as a way to expose Naruto and have Sasuke kill him?

No- Danzo didn't know Naruto wasn't affected by the pills. He would've acted by now against him if that be the case.

Still, Kakashi couldn't stop the thought that this mission was a set up- at least for someone. He just couldn't figure out WHY.

If he knew why, he could spin the report perfectly. But as of now, it was a shot in the dark.

For now, all he could do was think about what crafty story would not put him or Naruto at risk for being discovered.

As long as Kakashi didn't react to anything, he should be fine. If they drug tested him, he had a plan for that too. If they drug tested Naruto, well, then things might go to hell.

* * *

 

Team Seven stood in front of Danzo-sama. Kakashi gave his report. Kakashi looked less than bored. He was professional. He was concise (perhaps if he left out a few details, it would be for the better) And he talked in a way that showed he less than not cared. He talked like he couldn't.

"Team Seven reporting escort mission to the Land of Waves, success. C-rank mission escalated to A-rank mission. Team seven was first attacked by two hired Chunin, which were easily defeated and left for pickup by ANBU. After, the client and Team Seven were attacked by Kiri missing-nin Zabuza Momochi and his accomplice. Zabuza was hired by Gato, who Zabuza eliminated. His accomplice was eliminated by my chidori. Zabuza escaped. The client was successfully protected and we stayed until the completion of his bridge."

Danzo-sama nodded but looked wary, "Kakashi. Why did you not return immediately to Konoha after learning the mission was incorrectly ranked?"

Without hesitation, Kakashi ranted, "Danzo-sama, I did what I thought was best for the village. Shinobi Rule #4 states that a shinobi must always put the mission first; Shinobi Rule #10: a shinobi must never show any weakness. In order to uphold these rules, I ordered to continue the mission after the chunin attacked. As an S-ranked jounin, the current mission level of B was not beyond my skill level. If we abandoned the mission, Konoha would be showing weakness to Gato, who hired the chunin. Additionally, I rationalized that if the mission rank had increased, the pay would also increase, and could be charged a fee for perjury. Since the bridge builder was poor due to Gato, it was likely he would be able to pay the mission and fee after the bridge established better trade in the Land of Waves. In addition, I found it to be foreign battle experience for my genin team, which I am ordered to train in the ways of a shinobi. Likely missions will not go as planned, so teaching them the lesson of adapting successfully to the mission can only be taught in the field. When Zabuza attacked, changing the rank to A, I was left uninjured although one of my genin was. We continued the mission since my level is higher than Zabuza and he was left severely injured while I was not. The injured genin posed no threat of failure to the mission."

Danzo-sama sat silently as he took in what Kakashi said, looking for signs of betrayal. When he looked unconvinced, Kakashi added, "And...Shinobi Rule #8 states a shinobi must see the hidden meanings within the hidden meanings. Hokage-sama, when you assigned us this mission, your body language and speech intonation suggested that you knew this mission was incorrectly ranked from the start. However, you still gave us the mission to complete. I suspected you had a reason for this, which I am unclear of, so I reasoned that continuing the mission was your hidden order."

Danzo-sama smiled wrily, "Kakashi Hatake, you!" He paused dramatically and Kakashi willed his body not to sweat, "are correct." Kakashi sighed mentally with relief, face unchanged.

"That is why I believed you would make an exceptional jounin sensei. Your ability to see underneath the underneath, and reason as a seasoned shinobi is second to none. Your loyalty to this village is unparalleled and I know we share the same dream of protecting and bettering Konoha. You are unlike the others in your ability to prioritize orders for the sake of the village. You are one of my greatest assets and you will continue to serve me, your Hokage, and your village as such."

"Yes, Hokage-sama."

Danzo-sama nodded and smiled as he believed the formidable Sharingan no Kakashi was completely under his thumb.

"Sasuke, any advances in your sharingan?"

"Yes, Hokage-sama. I now have three tomoe."

"Excellent progress, Sasuke. Continue to improve and excel." He looked over the flat affect of Sakura and Naruto and did not think he needed to waste his precious time on them. "All of you, continue to improve for the sake of the village. Genin, dismissed."

The three of them all nodded curtly and left quickly.

Kakashi stood still, waiting to be addressed. A few minutes passed and Kakashi itched to pull out his book, but he had been instructed once to never do so in front of Danzo-sama never again. Kakashi never did well with awkward silences and waiting, but he wasn't weak enough to succumb to mind games either.

"Kakashi, has the demon child shown any signs of the seal weakening? I got a report from the final test of SAMA saying he turned more feral and exploded with power. I believe this was the influence of the Kyuubi. Did he use the Kyuubi's power on the mission?"

Kakashi blinked once at the name 'demon child' to register that it was Naruto, but otherwise stated flatly, "No, Hokage-sama, the Kyuubi did not come out during the mission."

"Hmm, so he does not use the fox's power. Controlling a jinchuriki is the ultimate weapon for the village, that is if Naruto has control over the beast. If he does not, I have several plans in place to control my weapon. Also, Kakashi, why was he wearing one of your masks?"

"Two reasons, sir. One, I noticed in the SAMA exam that his use of the Kyuubi chakra darkens the whiskers, making them more noticeable. If he uses the fox's chakra, its influence will be less noticeable in a fight. The whiskers are a memorable feature of his face as it is, so it is to protect the identity of the Kyuubi. (Kakashi internally winces at his word choice)Two, he is beginning to look more like his father as he gets older. Covering his face will lessen the possibility he gets recognized by foreign shinobi."

"I see, being prepared as always Kakashi."

"It is a Shinobi Rule, Lord Fifth."

"Strict as always, Kakashi. I would like to enter your genin team into the chunin exams. Be sure to instruct them that killing is not allowed in the first round, and should only be used as a last resort in the second round. We can't have the other nations blaming us for culling their genin teams, it would look too suspicious if they were all sent back dead."

"Yes, Hokage-sama."


	7. Kurama, Orochimaru, & Teammates

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Had the feeling it'd be easier to tell the story from different character's point of view. Plus, I reallllly did not have the time or imagination to remake the entire chunin exams, so, this will have to do. Plus, we've all read the chunin exam arcs 20,000 different ways, so why not just make this a little less painless so we can move on with the plot?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had some really great comments last chapter, thank you so much for your thoughtfulness! I read over the comments several times to try to mentally answer some questions and then think out some plot to go along with it, and what would be realistic in terms of plot and character development. So I thank you for making me think of things I had not considered, but I hope that by the end of this story, I will have touched upon everything that has been brought up so far!  
> So basically, thank you for commenting and furthering this story!

The Kyuubi, or Kurama, had been pacing in his cage. Furiously, he whipped his tails against the cage that sealed him in a small twelve year old boy. 

How dare these puny humans try to drug his host! Dissolving that poison of a drug had been child's play, but it had left his head fuzzy for a few days.

After a nice nap, he had come to, realizing that Naruto was in a bad spot with negative emotions swirling around his body. He watched his container stand before the bars of his cage without looking at him, seething in anger. 

Kurama felt his chakra resonate with the red hot emotions of the youngster, and he didn't resist the small tug on his chakra unconsciously coming from the boy. Once he had played his part, he curled back into the shadows of his cage. He didn't mind sparing an smidge of his chakra since he was satisfied that his host was no longer taking that stupid poison.

Kurama had taken interest in Naruto again when he felt a dark slimy chakra that made him sneeze snakes. It was an ugly chakra, and it was strong.

Kurama could tell that his host was scared, close to shitting his pants. But the host of the nine-tails was no shitter, so again Kurama lent the boy a little chakra along with a little courage, just so he could keep his pride.

But what Kurama wasn't expecting was that no matter how much chakra he gave the boy, it could not make up for his lack of skill. Not that Naruto was... terrible per say, but he was no means a jounin, let alone legendary Sannin.

Realizing all too late that his chance to warn Naruto had passed, another seal was slipped over the one on his bars, blocking his chakra from the boy, and unbalancing the boy's already uncontrolled reserves.

Should Kurama care? Probably not. But he did. 

Another seal, were these humans fucking kidding him? He was already butt hurt about being sealed inside a baby 12 years ago, his pride had taken a hit that his container was an idiot, and now he was helpless to help the idiot, but he had been too lazy to speak up. 

And one thing was for sure, Kurama had a great sense of self preservation. He would not let his host die, and if he did, he would be the laughing stock of the bijuu.

So Kurama stared at the stupid five pronged seal on his cage, and although his knowledge of seals was limited, he figured if he poured enough chakra into it, he could loosen it bit by bit, just like the 8 pronged seal holding him in the cage.

And, Kurama finally resolved, once this seal from the snake chakra was off, he was going to have a little discussion with his host.

 

... 

 

And, if we're being honest here, and it's not like anyone could hear his thoughts anyways, he was getting a little lonely.

* * *

Orochimaru was a legendary Sannin. A Sannin who should've taken the hat, rightfully given to him by his sensei. Tsunade had left the village a while back, her heart too broken to keep her around. Jiraiya was too focused on women and drinking and messing around to focus his ADHD personality enough to do some paperwork, let alone lead a village. 

But then again, Orochimaru wasn't really loyal to the Leaf like his white-haired perverted teammate. He had two goals: obtain all known ninjutsu and become immortal. 

And that was going pretty well. 

Danzo-sama let him run free and conduct his experiments, as long as some of the experiments benefited the Leaf in the long run. Aka the arm of sharingan that Danzo-sama hides. 

But, Orochimaru had his own agenda, and that particular agenda did not involve being at the beck and call of the man he helped manufacture the perfect shinobi drug for. 

The perfect drug that gave Danzo-sama the perfect obedient Uchiha. But Sasuke Uchiha was _his_. He wanted the sharingan to perfect his immortal body. And, with the way the drug was manufactured, Orochimaru knew that Sasuke could not unlock the mangekyo sharingan if he did not have an extreme emotional response to something. Specifically guilt, over the death of a loved one. 

Orochimaru did not want a half-baked vessel. He cared about no one but himself (He had no one left but himself), and his sensei was already dead so he had missed the opportunity, if it had triggered anything at all, to gain a mangekyo from his own tragedy like Kakashi had.

But, like the genius he was, Orochimaru had a plan for Sasuke. He'd have Sasuke kill his best friend, take him off the drug, and let the boy drown in his guilt of all his actions once his emotions flooded back. The only issue was the deadly withdrawal and mental issues.

Danzo-sama cared about that. Orochimaru didn't. 

Orochimaru needed a body, not a brain.  

But Orochimaru had promissssssed Danzo-sama that he _knew how to cure the side effectssssss of the drug. If Orochimaru gave Sasuke the curse mark after he quit the pillssssssss, he'd survive the after effectssssss._

If anything, the curse mark would feed off his rage, anger, and bloodlust, and increase it. If Sasuke managed to survive the mark without being brain dead, he'd kill anyone in his proximity, possibly including himself, and then his brain would only be as useful as a wild animal...

Some days, it really pissed Orochimaru off that Danzo-sama treated him like one of his subordinates.

Yes, Orochimaru was petty. After realizing he never actually wanted to be Hokage, he just wanted some purpose in his fleeting life, he tried to find what actually made him happy. What filled his being and made every day worth getting up for?

Sure the whole knowledge of all ninjutsu and secret to immortality was fun and all, but after a while it was just boring. Orochimaru needed some entertainment. 

Usually his sensei was a good source. Pissing Hiruzen off, disappointing him, going on some undercover unknown unseen mission from the snake in exchange for something Orochimaru probably didn't need.

He missed his team, his relationships, the dynamic changes of life and what it means to struggle and grow.

But most of all, he missed his sensei, who even to the end, never gave up on him. And, despite his cold serpentes heart, Orochimaru could appreciate that. 

So, now to entertain himself, he decided to play a long con on Danzo-sama. Because Danzo-sama was the one who murdered his precious sensei.  Danzo-sama was the one who thought he was the most powerful man in Konoha. 

 

No.

 

Danzo was a piece of shit who should've stayed in the shadows. (Gasp!)

 

After 12 long years, Orochimaru was going to kill Danzo-sama, or he would die trying. (And everyone could be damned for all he cared)

* * *

Sasuke regarded his team as not as good as himself, but competent enough. Their mission was simple: get one heaven scroll, one earth scroll, don't kill anyone unless it was necessary, and make it to the tower within five days.

Everything had been going smoothly until his team was attacked by a singular grass nin genin, who could not have even possibly remotely be a genin. (Well technically Naruto was still a genin in the end, so it actually might be possible) 

 If it was necessary to kill, then kill. But what if it was impossible? The woman who'd stopped them was immensely stronger than them, and engaging in battle would be suicidal. 

And Sasuke did not want to die. He had his own personal mission to fulfill one he could not, would not, fail. Although Sasuke was unsure as to why his mission was necessary now, he knew he had had this mission, and he was too stubborn and dead set on it to give it up. Uchiha do not give up. Plus, Danzo-sama had approved of his "ambition" even though the logic was more two eyes for a whole clan's eyes and somehow that meant justice.

He offered their scroll, figuring they could easily get another from a less challenging team. 

But the female grass nin laughed and proclaimed she didn't care about their scroll, and that she wanted him instead.

He was too young for this, and that would be shameful. Subconsciously his body shivered, but he had no idea why.

Despite her claims, she never seriously came after Sasuke. Sure there was this giant snake that Naruto had managed to stop before it could gobble up Sasuke, but other than that, her blows weren't unbearably hard and she didn't show case any crazy ninjutsu. She more laughed at them and taunted them- because she could. 

In the moment, Sasuke wondered what had changed in his blonde teammate. He could feel a foreign chakra bubbling to the surface, and with his sharingan active, he could see a larger flow than was typical for Naruto. He knew he wanted the power Naruto possessed, it would help him greatly in his ambition. 

His face had changed, too. But Sasuke could only mentally comment on the physical changes of his teammate. Of the facts. What was this change? And how did he feel about it?

If Sasuke was being honest about it, he hadn't felt anything in a long time. He wasn't sure exactly when it had happened, but one day he was no longer the expressive self he had seen in his memories. 

He didn't feel the anger. He didn't feel agony. He didn't feel lonely or sad. 

But he had. Yet, Sasuke felt nothing about this change either. Was it just typically normal? Sasuke didn't feel worried about it and not particularly guilty about it either.

He was curious, sure, knowing he had changed. But he was a shinobi. No emotions were the rules. And somehow he felt more relaxed, more warm, more cloudy in a nice soft fuzzy sort of way whenever he followed the rules. 

Whenever he followed an order, he felt light on his toes. Like nothing else mattered other then the fact that he obeyed! It was good. It was right. He was whole.

And we he didn't, the world seemed a little more gray than usual. He felt tired and unsatisfied. He wanted more, needed more. A craving he couldn't fulfill. His body seemed on the outs with him and everything felt wrong.

Watching Naruto hold a snake back with his little body made Sasuke start to think what he felt about this particular situation. He wasn't scared, although he knew he'd lose. He wasn't angry, though he knew he'd succeed. And he wasn't worried, although he knew his team was fucked. He wasn't jealous, but he wanted the power. 

In the end, her long neck stretched to the body of a snake and her fangs threatened to pierce his neck when she seductively whispered in his ear, "Can't use this just yet. But when you start to feel again and you can't deal with it, come to Orochimaru. He'll make everything better, kukukukukuuuuu. Remember this Sasuke," as she licked his ear with the tongue of a snake.

Unsure of what she meant and shuddering from the wetness now dripping from his ear, Sasuke turned to strike her neck, only to find it had disappeared.

Her body had reappeared in front of a panting Naruto, and her hand closed around his throat, holding him high in the air.

Sasuke didn't move, because it wasn't logical, when the woman lit her fingers with blue flames and pressed them to Naruto's stomach.

"Can't have your demon getting in the way." 

With a quick flick of her wrist, Naruto's eyes slid closed and his body slacked in her grip. Grinning viciously, the woman locked eyes once again with Sasuke saying, "Now it will be easier," before disappearing from the forest.

Sasuke blinked at the spot while Sakura yelled for Sasuke to get his ass over there and help her carry Naruto.

Sakura was checking him for injuries, and noting the grass nin had touched her fingers to his stomach, she lifted up his shirt to examine the damage.

 "It's a seal," she reported, "It looks really complex. I have no idea what it is. Do you?"

Sasuke shook his head a little, just staring at the intricate design. He activated his sharingan again to see if he could see what the seal had done, and he noticed Naruto's foreign chakra was gone, the boy's own chakra fluctuating dangerously. 

"It messed up his chakra network. It's a hell of a lot smaller now and it's fluctuating like crazy." 

Sakura nodded and glowed her hands green on top of Naruto's stomach. Without her emotions of infatuation toward the Uchiha, she had decided to take her shinobi training seriously. Realizing she was not as powerful as everyone else on the team, she was determined to get stronger and not be useless to the team. 

When she had confronted Kakashi about this, he stared at her with a lazy eye before pointing her in the direction of the hospital. She was quick to pick up the knowledge needed for a medical ninja, and had already learned some basic field procedures. 

She was far from being anything special, but she was farther than she had started. At least now when she stared at the backs of her teammates, she knew she had a role to play. 

Kakashi had praised her for her efforts to look after her teammates, reminding her of the highest priority rule on his team. 

She felt a little less empty at his acknowledgement and so she strived to get stronger like her teammates.

"I don't know how to fix his chakra system, and I don't know how the seal works, but his body is dangerously hot. Maybe if I thread some of my chakra constantly into his system, it'll even out enough that he'll be stable."

"Worth a shot," commented Sasuke. 

After a few long minutes of concentration by Sakura and protection duty by Sasuke, the pink-haired girl sighed in resolution as Naruto's fever broke. 

"I don't know when he'll wake up, but we need to move," Sakura said in a leader-like tone.

"You're right. We need him to finish and Kakashi said not to abandon our teammates," Sasuke stated offhand.

"Right. Let's go."

With that, they scooped up the blonde to find some shelter. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The best thing about Orochimaru is there was never a reason as to why he invaded Konoha in the first place in the manga, and why he wanted to kill Hiruzen. In this week's Boruto episode (that I pretty much just watch for the old Naruto characters lol) Tsunade basically said there's no rhyme or reason to what Orochimaru does. So. I wanted to give him a reason. Maybe he's just too damn smart that people can't figure out what's going on, but I think he does have a curiousness to him that other people will never be able to grasp. He was never totally good. Never totally bad. So now, I want to give him a purpose.


	8. A Day in the Life of the Forest of Death

"Lee what are you doing?!" Tenten yelled as she and Neji had finally found their teammate who had not met at the rendezvous spot.

"I am going to help out our fellow Leaf ninja!"

"They aren't our problem, Lee."

Lee retracted the foot he had set out to push off from, and firmly froze in place. Neji and Tenten shared a look before catching up to their bushy-browed friend. They landed on a branch to watch the scene below passively with Lee.

"Neji, Tenten," Lee started, "Gai-sensei told us to protect our fellow Leaf ninja. As a man, I cannot go against our sensei's orders and let an outnumbered team of our allies defend for themselves!"

"Lee, Gai-sensei meant not to attack any Leaf ninja, not to save every one of them. If we help everyone else, we'll never make it to the tower in time."

"Tenten is right, they aren't our problem. If they are fated to die here, they will die."

Lee tried to shift through Gai's message about the rules of the exam.  
_"Everything Gai-sensei said was important, his words are truly that of a great shinobi! He has taught me many valuable lessons, but which takes priority here?"_

"Blast it!" Lee yelled with a flail of his arms. "Their youth will not last at this rate! I must save them!"

"Lee stop yelling. It is not our duty to interfere. Gai-sensei is an idiot, you must learn to take his lessons one day at a time rather than all together," Neji chided.

"Neji's right, Lee. You're so confused because you treat every word from sensei as gold. You need to look underneath to find his true message."

"But Gai-sensei is a genius. I want to abide by every word he says." Lee whispered as he defended his sensei.

"Sensei is far from a genius. He's an idiot. He works us hard and works himself harder, with those stupid self imposed rules." Neji bit back.

"He is a genius of hard work! He said so himself! And vowing a self imposed rule makes me sway unsteadily on my feet once I have completed it!" Lee rasped in a hushed tone and looked into the direction of the sunset.

"But if you don't, you're out of commission." Tenten commented.

"That is a risk I must take to maintain the springtime of youth!" Lee quietly quoted his jounin-sensei.

"Lee, who did Gai put in charge of this team?"

"You, Neji." He said in small voice.

"That's right. And I say we're leaving. Let's go."

"Yes, sir." Lee saluted and turned his back on the outnumbered team, and swiftly followed his teammates through the forest. His cheeks flushed as he obeyed the order, with no regrets or second thoughts to the team he'd left behind.

* * *

From the bushes a voice whispered, "Shikamaru, what do we do?"

"Nothing."

"But that's Sakura and Sasuke, should we help them?" Ino asked.

"No." Shikamaru commanded.

"What are you thinking Shikamaru," Choji asked.

"They aren't our problem. If Sasuke is anything like he was at our graduation test, they'll be fine."

Choji nodded in understanding and Ino didn't disagree.

"Should we go then?" Ino asked.

"It'll be troublesome if they lose and the enemy sees us. Let's go while they're distracted."

Team 10 stealthily slid through the bushes and continued on towards the tower.

* * *

Team 8 watched as Gaara of the Sand mercilessly crushed three foreign ninja in his sand burial technique.

His siblings, and blonde girl and a boy with paint on his face, pleaded with him to get to the tower now that they had their scroll.

Gaara told them he didn't care if they were his siblings and he'd kill them, too.

Kiba iched to move and attack the guy, but Hinata put a firm hand on his chest. Her pale eyes were piercing, "Don't be stupid Kiba."

Gaara flicked his eyes in the direction of Team 8 hidden in the bushes, but plugged his gourd of sand instead, and the sand ninja continued on.

A half hour later, Kiba, Shino, and Hinata looked down at a shaking Akamaru.

"What's wrong with him?" Hinata asked.

"Dunno. What's with you Akamaru?"

The puppy only whined in response, unable to stop shaking in fear.

"My bugs are acting erratically as well." Shino commented.

"Maybe we should just try to get out of here?" Hinata suggested.

"Yeah, I don't know what's gotten into Akamaru, but he's useless like this. Come on, get in my shirt."

Akamaru barked, and Kiba looked confused.

"What de he say?" Shino asked.

"He said the kid with the sand is dangerous and to stay away from him. And that he's-It didn't make any sense. I think he's sick."

"Let's just go. Why? Because we have our second scroll." Shino pointed out.

"Right." Hinata and Kiba said in unison. They followed the path of the sand ninja to the tower.

* * *

Although their ears were bleeding, arms full of cuts, and tires, Sakura and Sasuke had beaten the sound ninja into a retreat.

Sasuke had used his sharingan to beat them in taijutsu, while Sakura distracted them with several kawarimis before feigning one and getting the drop on her opponent.

Sakura had also bested the female nin by unexpectedly chopping off her long hair and swiveling to plunge the same kunai in the sound nin's abdomen.

Meanwhile, Sasuke relied on his eyes rather than ears to take on the other two nin, eventually beating them with relentless taijutsu, ruthless moves, and separating a shoulder or two.

Sakura was healing Sasuke's ears when Naruto woke up.

"What's... what's going on?" Naruto blinked awake, eyes suddenly wiring remembering what had happened. He jumped to his feet, "Wait, where's that crazy grass lady?"

"She left, after she did something to you." Sasuke informed.

"What the hell did she do?" Naruto asked in his usual brandish way.

"She put a seal on your stomach. We don't know what it does, but you were out of it for a while. We think it messed with your chakra." Sakura reported.

Naruto lifted up his shirt and analyzed the seal on his seal. Mesmerized by the pattern, he was broken from his staring when Sasuke asked, "Dobe, where did that power come from before?"

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked owlishly.

"I saw it when we fought that grass nin. Extra chakra you didn't have before. How did you get it?"

"I... I don't know. I don't know what you're talking about, dattebayo."

Sasuke pulled up Naruto from the ground by his collar and his red eyes shined as they pierced into the deep blues of Naruto's. "You're lying. Tell me where you got the power. I need it more than a loser like you."

Naruto blinked, unsure what to say. His cover was somewhat blown, but not fully. How to get out of this...?

"Ok, you caught me. But Kakashi-sensei told me to lie. For whatever reason he told me not to tell anyone, including you two. It's an S-rank secret, so if you want to know, ask him, ya know."

Sasuke watched his eyes for signs of a lie, but found none. He release the grasp of the blonde's shirt and "humphed" away.

Sakura stayed silent, letting whatever was going on between the two boys work itself out.

Without looking behind him, Sasuke called out, "We have the second scroll, let's get going."

Sakura looked over to a Naruto still sitting on the forest floor after being dumped on his ass. "Come on," she offered him a hand.

In another life, Naruto's eyes would've sparkled at the gesture. But instead, he schooled his features under his mask, took the offer hand, and let himself be pulled up with only a nod of acknowledgment.

"Right." 

Naruto watched his teammates backs as they rushed off towards the tower.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lol I keep finding plot holes in my own work. Clearly, I'm not paying much attention since I write chapter by chapter on my way home on a train. Sorry about that! I just updated ch2 to reflect it, but basically no one should know Naruto has the Kyuubi who didn't already know in the manga/anime. 
> 
> If you see any plot issues, let me know so I can fix them.


	9. Training

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the bit between stage 2 ad 3, that also shows my laziness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry for the delay. Honestly didn't think I'd be writing another chapter until December. I've been really busy with real life and grad school, I haven't had much time to even think up the direction for this story. After piecing this chapter over the last couple weeks, this is what I've settled on.

 

Naruto vaguely listened to Danzo-sama as he explained about some kind of bullshit as to why the Chunin exams were held and how they balanced the power between countries.

Naruto could almost scoff at his speech, because looking around he was in a sea of Leaf genin and one team of Sand genin.  _"Not very diverse,"_  he thought to himself.

For some reason, Naruto was expecting some kind of preliminary fight to determine who would go to the third round, though perhaps that was a weird moment of déjà vu from another life.

But with only the Sand nin, Ino-Shika-Cho, Team 7, and Gai-sensei's team, there was enough for a decent, but not too large, bracket for the final round.

Wait... what happened to Team 8?...

 _"Hinata, Kiba, Shino... they didn't make it,"_  Naruto thought solemnly.

When Naruto regained focus, he looked up to see a screen appearing from the wall.  _"I didn't even know we had that kind of technology."_

The names of all the genin in the room appeared on the screen in alphabetical order. The letters began to jumble and rearrange.

"The contestants will now be randomized to fight in the finals," Danzo-sama announced.

Naruto looked with vacant (but eager) eyes up at the screen. No other genin reacted to this at all.

_"Kankuro vs. Tenten_

_Rock Lee vs. Shikamaru Nara_

_Ino Yamanaka vs. Sakura Haruno_

_Gaara vs. Choji Akimichi_

_Sasuke Uchiha vs. Temari_

_Neji Hyuuga vs. Naruto Uzumaki"_

6 pairs. That meant 6 winners, three fights. 3 winners and a battle royale.

Naruto looked in his bracket and shuddered at the the thought of competing against Sasuke. He mind raced as he remembered the ruthless deaths of his classmates by the last Uchiha. Even with his lack of emotions, a screw was definitely loose somewhere else.

Sasuke looked at the board with satisfaction, hoping that Naruto would miraculously beat Neji so that he could finally challenge him and utterly destroy him. If not, he'd settle to ass-whoop the stuck up Hyuuga.

Sakura looked at the board with a calculating mind. Her odds against Ino? Better than anyone else on there.

Kakashi narrowed his gaze as well. Were these match-ups really that random? Close up his chakra points so Naruto couldn't use the nine-tails? Assuming Danzo-sama didn't know about the seal on his stomach, it was the perfect way to make him an even match-up for the Uchiha. And if Sasuke took out Naruto, he'd eventually go up against Gaara. Just what was Danzo-sama planning? An international incident innocently portrayed as a justified killing of the Kazekage's son and weapon?

After the match-ups were complete, the genin were instructed to meet at the arena in one month's time. They could train as much as they'd like in order to prepare.

After they were dispersed, Kakashi was called to stay behind.

"What can I help you with, Hokage-sama?" Kakashi just itching to say that with a less little shit in his mouth.

"Kakashi, I want you to focus your efforts on training the Uchiha. Teach him the chidori and how to master his eyes."

Kakashi's slight frown was unnoticed beneath his mask. "As you wish," he said with a tense nod and bow.

* * *

Kakashi met his expecting team waiting for him outside of the tower so that he could escort them out of the Forest of Death.

He scanned their faces for any emotions and found none. Even Naruto was unreadable, just as he had been after the Wave mission.  _"That is a good thing,"_  Kakashi kept trying to assure himself.

He hated how broken Naruto was. All because of the nine-tails and Danzo. To watch your peers slowly slip away from what makes them human to cold blooded killers, a thing Kakashi had experienced and had tried to end via suicide missions. But somehow.. he always made it fucking back.

As his mind wandered back to the present he realized his genin were waiting without so much as cough for his orders. Even his loud boisterous blonde was silent and still.

Kakashi swallowed the lump in his throat before continuing with bored eyes, "Sasuke, Danzo...-sama has asked me to personally mentor you this month. We will meet on top of the Hokage Mountain at 7am sharp tomorrow morning to begin our month long training. Be sure to pack enough supplies for the month. We won't be dropping back to the village anytime soon."

Kakashi stole a glance at Naruto's eyes and was almost relieved when he saw a knowing shimmer in his eyes.  _It hadn't been Kakashi's choice._

"Sakura, continue your studies at the hospital. I think your fine chakra control will be your best asset. You have to win the match before Ino can use her clan techniques to jump bodies. Yamanaka's are about mind games, so don't let her get in your head. You may benefit from a strong fighting style, one that Lady Tsunade used to use."

"Naruto, I'll find you another jounin sensei to train you while I'm away with Sasuke. Be good."

With the little Kakashi said to Naruto, the genin was confused.  _"No advice or pep talk? Just a 'you're someone else's problem now, see you later?' No, that can't be right. That's not the Kakashi I know... or is it? How much do I know about Kakashi anyways?"_

What if he really does serve Danzo Dick and this is all just one big ruse? What if the seal was Danzo's plan all along and now he was stuck with no chakra monster or any contact keeping him sane in this fucked up world he had involuntarily stumbled upon.

Despite his swirling depression, Naruto's body automatically followed his comrades as they turned to leave the second test's training ground.

At the entrance they all dispersed, getting ready for their month ahead.

* * *

Naruto avoided going home as long as possible. His legs sluggishly dragged as he kept his hands stuffed in the pockets of his jacket, eyes downcast and vacant.

The face hidden behind the mask, calm and collected, was a facade for the way his brain was working on over drive.

He had felt alone his entire life, and yet, somehow he was more empty than ever. Holding in this huge secret, only bearable with the help of someone else taking off some of the weight, and that someone was leaving him for a month to train his other emotionless teammate.

And yet he knew this wasn't Kakashi's decision. He knew that he was just "following orders." But fuck, he wished this time Kakashi would have disobeyed, just for him.

He wouldn't be able to steal a laugh or knowing smile. A flicker of understanding from a lone gray eye. And on top of that, he was getting another sensei, who didn't understand a thing about him.

He stood in front of his doorway, relieved and yet too anxious to go inside. He steeled himself for a month of loneliness as he pushed open the door.

Walking to his bedroom, his eyes raised from the floor boards to his window, and held back a gasp when he saw his silver-haired sensei lounging there waiting for him.

"Yo," he placated with his usual hand gesture.

"Kaka-sensei, what are you-?"

"I was given orders Naruto. I never wanted to leave you to train Sasuke, and I won't."

"But aren't you-"

"When Sasuke's asleep, I'll shushin back to the village to train you at night. I would never abandon you, Naruto."

"Those who abandon their friends are worse than scum," Naruto said, lowering his mask with a cheeky smile.

 _"There he is,"_  thought Kakashi, who responded with an eye crinkle.

"Naruto, let me look at the seal on your stomach."

Naruto lifted his shirt to find blank tan skin. His eyebrows furrowed until Kakashi chided, "Channel some chakra."

He did, revealing the 8 prong seal with the counterbalancing 5 prong on top of it. It didn't feel right, and he felt off balance, like something was missing.

The next thing Naruto knew, he was lying down in shallow water, gently lapping against his ears, and rippling in an cold echo of space.

He slowly propped himself up on his elbows, wondering how he wasn't sinking into the water, and took in his surroundings. Looked like a sewer, and dead in front of him, was a cage.

He gaped at the long bars that reached up endlessly as he could see no ceiling. But there was a chill in the air that Naruto just couldn't place. Hatred, anger, power. It left a cotton taste in his mouth.

He peered deeper into the cage, only to be met with large, white, ominous eyes.

"So you're finally here, you worthless piece of shit," growled the ancient chakra monster.

"What are you- wait who the fuck are you? What is this place?" Naruto quickly made to his feet and pointed an accusatory finger.

The Kyuubi snorted, "We're in your mind, idiot." He let that sink in for a minute. "So who do you think I am?"

Naruto pinched his eyes closed and thought about this strange situation.

"Are you... are the..." he lowered his voice in a whisper as if he was keeping this a secret between the two of them, "...the Kyuubi?"

"Why are you whispering you idiot? This is your mind for fuck's sake, no one but me can hear you. And since I am the Kyuubi, I already know your secret."

Naruto's draw dropped and a fly sputtered out.

"What the hell have you been doing you puny human?! First you try to drug yourself and I had to use a lot of my chakra for DAYS to fix your brain damage, and then you go and get a seal put on you that cuts off your access to my chakra! Fucking pathetic. And what's even worse is that piece of fabric clinging to your snotty nose hiding the marks I gave you! Talk about ungratefulness. Come a little closer to the cage, Naruto, and I'll take off an arm from you for payment."

"How do you know my name?!" The boy demanded.

"You think I wouldn't know the name of my jailer for the last 12 years? You really are dense."

"Then maybe  _you_  should be the one giving  _me_  payment! Call it rent for the last 12 years of free housing."

"You think I chose to be sealed into you?! You of all moronic, annoying, loud mouthed brats. God, I get sick just thinking about how much sleep I've lost to your annoying voice."

But now that Kurama thinks about it, he hasn't really seen that side of him for a long time. In fact, he hasn't seen the kid this riled up since before his graduation from SAMA.

Maybe Kurama misses the side that reminds him of that bitch Kushina. Isn't her chakra still floating around here somewhere? Damn that woman.

Maybe Kurama is more pissed at the Uchiha and Danzo-sama to waste his time hating Naruto. Besides, a controlled Naruto is a controlled Kurama, and Kurama has been controlled for the last damn time.

Kurama glares down at his jailer, and his jailer glares back, clearly not backing down. Now this was the Naruto Kurama knew. That annoying mantra to never give up and save everyone or whatever.

"Get the fuck out of here," The Kyuubi whips his tails at Naruto, sending him back to the waking world.

"-ruto. Naruto. Oi!"

He felt his shoulders being shaken and he blinked up into the gray and red eyes of his sensei who was wearing a worried expression. Coming back into awareness, he realized where he had just been and who he had just talked to.

"Holy shit, you'll never guess who I just talked to!"

"The Kyuubi, I'm guessing." Kakashi deadpanned.

Naruto's face betrayed none of his naive shock, "How did you know?"

"He talked to me, too."

"What did he say?"

Kakashi shrugged and looked away, "Nothing important."

"EEHHH?!"

* * *

Kakashi's fingers lit up with blue fire on the tips. He had learned this seal from Minato when he was on pregnant-Kushina duty, just in case the nine-tails made plans to jump ship early. It was an easy seal to place and release, but it was known only by a few masters. A well kept secret.

The seal was designed to unbalance any victim's chakra, making it difficult to mold and manipulate. But for a jinchuuriki, it would mean unbalancing the chakra from its beast.

Too bad Kakashi had never gotten a chance to use it back then.

But now, he laid his fingers on the blonde's stomach and turned his wrist like unlocking a door with a key. He quickly became aware of a clawed hand wrapped around his wrist and red eyes staring back at his instead of blue.

"You," Not-Naruto growled.

"Me," Kakashi answered lighlty, a little confused.

"You're not like the rest," the low voice grumbled.

Kakashi nonanswered him with a raise of his eyebrow and narrowing of his eye. His slide his hitae-ite up to reveal his sharingan, which made the red eyes on Naruto pull back slightly.

Kakashi didn't. "What do you want, Kyuubi?"

"A little appreciation would be nice. I did save your student from being brain damaged like the rest of them, and curiously unlike you."

"How can you tell?" Kakashi wondered if he knew from Naruto or could tell on his own.

"Being a malevolent ancient chakra construct born of hate and rage, I can sense negative emotions. And you, Hatake, are swimming in them. Unlike all the other humans I could easily rip apart. I feel nothing at all from them."

Kakashi nodded. This meant the Kyuubi trusted him, or at least verified he wasn't on the pill.

"You're playing a dangerous game. And you're involving my host, which I don't remember agreeing to. As long as I'm protecting him from that poison, you WILL get him out of this hellhole before I really lose him."

Kakashi took in his words, noting how depressed Naruto has been, so overtly closed off, even in the privacy of each other's company. Evidently the Kyuubi cared, too.

He smirked with a eye smile, "You miss him, too." It was more a statement than a question.

With that, the red eyes became furious and Naruto's features pouted. Without warning, Naruto's body went limp beneath his fingertips, and he grabbed the waist of the boy before he slammed his head into the floor. Fucking Fox.

And with that Naruto was awake, grumbling about a stupid fox and paying rent with a little more young playfulness in his eyes that Kakashi had been desperately missing.

* * *

Kakashi awoke to a wet substance soaking into his thigh. He was awake and alert in a second, his ANBU training kicking in and his brain working on overdrive.

He touched the liquid with his fingers tips, bringing them up to face to inspect them in the glow of the tv. Clear.

Not blood.

He could relax. As soon as he did, he realized a small weight was close to the growing puddle on his leg, looking down to see a blonde mop of hair and whiskered face unceremoniously kinked to one side, mouth open, and drool sliding out.

Kakashi took a moment to watch the blonde breathe in his sleep, a gentle snore every now and then with his inhales. Kakashi pulled up his headband and opened the sharingan eye, taking in this moment to remember forever.

He carded his fingers through Naruto's hair, showing a level of affection for another human being that he hadn't received since Minato-sensei was alive. He wondered if Minato was watching him now, with that gentle, understanding smile he always wore.

Kakashi could never be Minato. He could never be Naruto's father. He already failed him as a brother, leaving him to grow up alone (despite that fact that he'd been ordered not to, Kakashi still felt responsible for the pain those years of loneliness must have given Naruto).

He sighed, heavily. Now Naruto needed a sensei, and he could only manage that part time.

"Hey, Fox," Kakashi blurted out before realizing is ridiculous it was to talk to thin air, hoping the chakra monster inside Naruto will listen, "Take care of him. Don't let him be so alone. I'll be around when I can."

Silence met him for a while until Naruto rolled on his lap, eyes scrunching while muttering, "shnoobid foksh" (slurred stupid fox) and Kakashi smiled to himself knowing the nine-tails had gotten the message.

Turning off the abandoned tv that had once played a movie they had fallen asleep to, Kakashi scooped Naruto in his arms and headed to his bed. He tucked in the blonde, a soft smile gracing his features as he watched the young boy settle into the covers.

Once last look at the sleeping boy, and Kakashi was out the window.

* * *

Sakura found herself in the hospital's archive rooms, staring at a picture of a young woman with blond pigtails and large breasts. Her eyes drifted down to her own chest and then back to the picture. A slight frown curled at the bottom of her lips. It was a fact of life that she was not gifted with breasts like other women.

Rummaging through the file, there wasn't much on this "Tsunade Senju," a majority of it looking wet stained and browning at the edges.

But from what she could tell, this Tsunade had been a genius in her time. Her time... hmm it doesn't say a time of death in her file, but she also doesn't live in Konoha.

She left the papers to head to the break room, hoping to catch her current supervisor for some information on the Senju.

"Lady Tsunade, hmm? The best in the field. She left during the time of the Third Hokage, something about a boyfriend killed in the line of duty. An honorable way to die if you ask me, but she left shortly after and hasn't taken on an apprentice from Konoha since."

"So there's no chance she'll be my sensei?" Sakura asked.

"She punches anyone she meets from Konoha straight through the wall."

"How does she do that, do you know? I'm trying to figure out a way to use my chakra offensively."

The doctor looked thoughtful, thinking of the short times she had seen Tsunade in battle, "I believe she had perfect chakra control and she created her own technique. I'm not sure how she did it, but she seemed to gather chakra into a body part, her hand for example, and release it on contact with whatever she was hitting. It looked like she had superhuman strength, but it was really her precise chakra control."

"Has anyone else tried to replicate her teachings?"

"Not that I know of. Anyone who has tried usually ends up getting their arms blown off, the blowback from the hit too much for their arm to handle. Tsunade knew how to accommodate for that I'm guessing, but I couldn't guess as to how."

"Hmmm," Sakura remained thoughtful. Well, this was more than she had gotten from just staring at the woman's pictures and reading up on some medicine she had invented.

Suddenly a code alarm sounded, causing the doctor and apprentice to jump to their feet.

Rushing into the ER, a shinobi shining in his own blood was being wheeled in. Sakura took a minute to survey the scene.

The doctors rushed, but not frantically. No one was yelling, talking calmly to each other. No one shot a sympathetic glance to the patient. No one's heart was pumping out of their chest. No one was scared of death.

She remained thoughtful, reminiscing of a time she had cried when she had scraped her knee on the playground. How Ino's face had gone pale at the sight of blood.

She wondered why she had reacted that way to a minor cut, why Ino had yelled and screamed for her mother. Why was it so easy to walk up to a mutilated body and begin her job as a healer without any wariness or doubt?

Why did Tsunade leave a perfect Konoha? Why did she hurt her fellow Leaf nin? Perhaps she was looking for someone to figure out what she had. To be a great frontline medic as she had once been.

Sakura was resolved, as she pieced flesh back together with a preciseness that teetered on her being gentle. She would learn how to become strong. She wasn't scared, no. Determined.

* * *

Sasuke followed the hand signs Kakashi made as chakra flowed through his palm and lightening began to crackle in the air. A screeching noise almost threatened to edge at his sanity, but his focus continued on his sensei's jutsu.

"And that's how it's done. Give it a try."

Sasuke slowly followed the hand signs he had memorized, concentrating his chakra as he has seen Kakashi's flow.

He found that the lightening flowed easily through his body, quickly gathering in his hand until he realized it was too quick. He couldn't control the shock of energy, and let it go, exploding a hole in front of him and sending him flying.

His back hit a soft pad, realizing it was the vest of his sensei.

"Good. Now don't let it go."

Sasuke tried over and over and over again. Each time huffing and puffing a little harder. Once he finally had managed to keep the lightening flowing freely in his palms, the screeching sounds of a 1000 annoying ass birds stimulating his cochlea and burning the hairs on his arms.

Suddenly, the world was spotting with blackness, a wave of nausea hitting him full force. He wonders briefly, it the Dobe had ever felt this level of exhaustion. The stamina freak and chakra monster had always able to out do him when it came to endurance. Sasuke didn't like not being the best in everything. He liked it when Naruto failed and he was seen as superior.

He grit his teeth to keep his legs from buckling, but found in the end, he couldn't stop his eyes from falling shut. A hand clamped over his, directing his chakra away from himself and dissipating the sound of those fucking birds. He felt an arm around his waist, and in that moment, felt safe to fall.

Exhaustion over took him and he was washed down the stream into the land of sleep.

Kakashi held the slack Uchiha in his arms, smirking at his unconscious form. He laid the boy in his sleeping bag, taking care to cover him in extra blankets. Kakashi put up a barrier and a few traps, popped a shadow clone into existence, and sushined to a certain blonde's residence.

* * *

Waiting those three minutes for the ramen to cook in the cup was agonizing. Naruto slammed his forehead on the table, not even bothering to wince at the self inflected pain in an effort to keep his sanity.

Ebisu had given him no breaks, not even to eat. Not even Kakashi was that much of a slave driver. It almost seemed like Ebisu had a personal vendetta against him that he just couldn't place. He knew the man shouldn't have emotions, but he treated Naruto like he hated him.

_"He does."_

Naruto startled at the voice, looking around frantically for the source.

_"You're not going to find me out there you imbecile."_

Naruto frowned at his cup ramen. He wasn't going crazy was he?

_"Maybe. But I'm not your therapist. I'm your prisoner."_

"Oh it's you. Well... uh.. shut up you damned fox!" Naruto yelled dramatically.

After that, Kurama did. Not a word. Not even the white noise of buzzing passed through his brain. Silence.

Naruto slumped at the feeling, a familiar weight on his chest he pushed away time and time again. The feeling of being so alone.

The gnawing achiness of emptiness.

A sadness washed over him and his eyes felt heavy like they had tears that refused to be shed. He slumped in his seat, leaning his head back against the chair, cup ramen forgotten.

He felt his body want to slip away from his physical and now emotional exhaustion. He was just starting to doze off, or he had fallen asleep for a short while and hadn't realized it, when a hand rested on his shoulder, jolting him back to consciousness with a whispered "Yo" in his ear.

"Miss me?" The man behind the mask smirked with the joy of a prankster.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto shouted, too excited to be contained. "You came back!"

"I said I would, didn't I?"

"Well yeah but, I didn't think..."

"My cute little genin has no faith in me."

"Well, you don't have the best track record of showing up to places, Kaka-sensei."

Kakashi pouted but moved to rustle Naruto's hair anyways.

His eye glanced to the cooling cup ramen, "Are you going to eat that?"

"Oh yeah!" Naruto's eyes lit up suddenly, "I totally forgot... Ramen.." his mouth watered and he dug in.

Kakashi chuckled as he watched the blonde dig in. After Naruto dramatically wiped his mouth with his arm, signally his completion of the meal, he looked brightly into Kakashi's eyes.

"Well then, let's get started," Kakashi said a little too sadistically.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for your patience with my sporadic updates! Hope you enjoyed. Not looking forward to writing a bunch of battle scenes for the chunin exams, so I may shorten them quite a bit.
> 
> And did I take out team 8 for convenience? Hell yeah. Again, hate writing fights. Prelims and finals, yikes, I'll just get right to the chase instead. Besides, the battles in the chunin exams never ended up mattering anyways. I might reveal what happened later... who knows?
> 
> Also, threw in a one-liner from the Princess Bride if anyone's a hard-core fan like me :)


	10. Chunin Exam Finals pt 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I really don't like writing fights... so keeping it moving. :)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kankuro vs. Tenten  
> Lee vs. Shikamaru  
> Ino vs. Sakura  
> Gaara vs. Choji  
> Sasuke vs. Temari  
> Neji vs. Naruto

The month went by too quickly for all three of the genin.

Sakura had made leaps and bounds with trying to replicate Tsunade's techniques without injuring herself in the process.

Sasuke had learned the chidori and increased his speed and stamina exponentially. His body could now keep up with the moves his sharingan could predict.

Naruto had smoothed all of his basics, well rounding himself with more critical thinking. And, unlike a convenient reveal when a jutsu needed to be learned faster than possible, Kakashi had taught Naruto the obvious advantage to shadow clones. That is, retaining the clones' memories and using them in battle to get an edge on your opponent.

And Naruto could make a shit ton of shadow clones.

Team 7 stood slightly apart as the announcer went over the rules for the 3rd stage of the chunin exams. The stadium was packed, from the rather rowdy civilians to the more subdued and alert shinobi. Kakashi's eye scanned the arena, taking note of just a few too many ANBU he didn't immediately recognize and the air that smelled like molten skin of a snake.

He sat next to his longtime friend, Gai, who it sometimes pained him to see. The once emotionally driven shinobi with a heart of gold, that had at one point, lifted Kakashi out of his slightly chronic depression.

Gai still maintained some of his old personality traits, talking about the springtime of youth and what it means to be a man. He, like Kakashi and a few other jounin, preached the value of teamwork and stressed that as a priority over other rules of the shinobi.

Kakashi knew the old Gai was still buried deep down in there, probably the most out of all his old friends. The man was always a fighter, a product of grit and hard work. There was no way a man like that would let a pill control him so completely. Kakashi admired his strength of will, but still felt a little sad that even Gai could be contained by the infamous drug.

"Fine day for a fight between youths, my cool and hip rival," Gai said offhandedly.

Kakashi feigned deafness, "Sorry, did you say something?"

"I know you heard me, Kakashi. Why do you play these games when the result is the same every time?"

Kakashi sighed and looked away, "Because at one time, it would get the best rise out of you. And I miss you, Gai."

"But Kakashi, I'm right here!" Gai announced.

Kakashi decided not to respond to the obvious, _No, you're not. Not anymore._ He slid his eyes back to the arena.

The first few matches went by quickly.

Kankuro took out Tenten without a question. He didn't come into sight of the arena until she had passed out.

Lee vs. Shikamaru was an interesting battle between brute and intelligence. Lee obviously had the physical advantage, much faster and strong than Shikamaru. But Shikamaru was uncharacteristically resilient in the fight, and outsmarted the taijutsu specialist, leading him to the shadows of the trees in the arena. However, Shikamaru was exhausted and took a fair amount of hits. Caught in the shadow, Lee was at his mercy, and yet Shikamaru forfeited.

Everyone thought that Ino and Sakura's match would just be a glorified cat fight. It actually turned out to be interesting! The hits were harder than anyone had ever given them credit for. Especially Sakura. In fact, in the middle of the fight, Kakashi had pushed up his eye cover to use his sharingan. Inspecting her fist, he saw them covered in highly concentrated chakra, much like Tsunade. Although unrefined and delivering some damage to herself, Sakura's fists were power moves, smashing the ground and creating a smoke screen of dust that allowed her to get the upper hand. Essentially, she just had to avoid the Yamanaka clan technique and end it before Ino could try. And that she did.

Gaara vs. Choji was a little sad to be honest. While Choji had given his best, he was not even a close match for Gaara. His human boulder ground against Gaara's impenetrable sand, literally acting like sandpaper. Choji ended the match covered in the light layer of his own blood from how much of his top two layers of skin had been scratched. Gaara never moved from his spot.

Sasuke vs Temari had, well, ended in the majority of the crowd's eyebrows burnt off. Gai's were just reduced to a normal size. While Temari was determined, and very very skilled, her wind only fueled Sasuke's flames to the point where the oxygen dropped so low, she passed out. Sasuke scoffed at her easy demise, and brushed the soot off his shoulder.

When Naruto went up against Neji, the crowd wasn't expecting such an exciting fight. Neji used the Hyuuga taijutsu against Naruto's numerous shadow clones. Naruto had seamlessly substituted out for his clones when Neji had gotten too close. The battle was long and drawn out.

Honestly, if Neji's opponent had been anyone else except Naruto, the Uzumaki stamina freak with an ancient chakra monster in his belly, he would have won. But Naruto was determined, and used the newfound knowledge that he could have a 360 view from his shadow clones. And with that knowledge he learned that the Byakugan had a weakness. Midline behind the shinobi's head was a blind spot, a particularly bad one. The blow that Naruto delivered there was short and quick, disrupting Neji's flow of blood to his brain for long enough for him to flutter his eyes shut. Naruto took advantage of this by using a shadow clone to upper cut Neji so hard that it dispersed.

So Naruto won, panting and sweating, but standing victorious over the unconscious body of Neji Hyuuga.

"Congratulations, rival," Gai said without looking at Kakashi, who hummed in acknowledgement. "The loss will be good for him."

Kakashi turned to look at Gai in interest, and then turned back to the arena where he saw Naruto fight the smile creeping under his mask, "The win will be good for him."

Gai hummed in acknowledgement.

**"Sasuke Uchiha vs. Naruto Uzumaki"**

"What?" Kakashi blurted out after the announcement was made.

Gai looked over to see a side of Kakashi he can't remember ever seeing. "Interesting."

Kakashi looked at Gai, recognizing his mistake. Very calmly he stated, "That's out of order."

"It is," Gai confirmed, "a test of their springtime of youth."

Kakashi refused to nod at Gai's comment and turned his head back to the panting Uzumaki who didn't get a chance to leave the arena, and the Uchiha who just entered the ring.

The proctor leaned down to Sasuke's ear, whispered something that even Kakashi couldn't hear, who narrowed his eye at the exchange. Sasuke looked up to Danzo-sama and locked eyes with the man, who nodded.

Naruto had stopped panting, but still looked worse for wear. He was confused at the turn of events but he knew he couldn't act like anything was wrong. But something felt so wrong, and something about Sasuke felt off, too.

When the proctor yelled 'begin,' Naruto jumped back and took in his surroundings. Not much to work with, not a lot of places to hide. Naruto's greatest strength was his stamina, which was already low now from his battle with Neji. Nonetheless, his strategy was to outlast Sasuke, and force him to use his ninjutsu.

Sasuke didn't hesitate to move when the proctor yelled 'begin.' With his speed enhanced from his training, he easily caught up to Naruto. A quick jab to the chest and a puff smoke made a "tch" fall out of his lips. Shadow clone.

He scanned the arena with his sharingan only to see Naruto on Naruto on Naruto that had spawned all over the playing field. Each clone had the same amount of chakra split in half (in this case 20ths), so it was impossible to tell them apart from the original.

After Sasuke had popped about five shadow clones, they began to attack. One came in hard to his left ribs, which he had been subtly nursing after receiving a blow from Temari there. Nothing broken, but definitely bruised, and it hurt like hell.

His breath was knocked out of him at the blow, loosening his posture and sending him slightly forward and hunched over. Another clone took advantage of this moment of weakness, coming from below with that annoying cheeky smile and an uppercut to his chin.

Sasuke bit his tongue, causing him to swallow blood. He had to get out of this or he'd be done for. A leg was flying towards his chest. With his red eyes blaring, he caught the leg by the ankle and threw it into nearby clones waiting to strike. They poofed out of existence with a faint "ah."

But the attacks didn't stop. One thing that Kakashi had taught Naruto, never give your opponent mercy. Never let them have time to recover. Get them down, and keep them there.

While the Uchiha admired his own handiwork killing the clones, he missed another clone sending an elbow between his shoulder blades. He coughed, sending the blood from his mouth flying. The civilians in the crowd gasped at the sight, although the blood was just from his tongue.

Sasuke was quick to lash out with his fireball technique as he spun in a 360 circle, taking out all the clones that touched his fire.

Now the fight was 4 on 1. Easy enough.

A few quick hand signs, and lightening crackled beneath his left hand, with his right supporting his wrist. "Chidori."

Kakashi's eye widened. _"No."_

_"Sasuke, this is an original move I created. I call it 'Chidori.' You must never use this jutsu on a comrade. Never use this on a Konoha shinobi or citizen. Do you understand my order?"_

_"Yes, sensei."_

Then why? Why? He was disobeying a direct order! Unless...

Kakashi turned ever so slightly to glance in Danzo-sama's direction. The satisfied smirk on the man's face was enough to tell him he had been overruled. Clearly the proctor had relied Danzo-sama's authorization for Sasuke's use of the Chidori against Naruto.

_"Fuck."_

Poof. Poof. Poof...

Sasuke's speed enhanced with the sharingan was no match for Naruto and his clones. He swiftly cut through the first three clones without missing a step. The original tried to dodge, and successfully avoided a blow through the heart, but still couldn't avoid it completely.

Sasuke's eyes showed nothing as he forced his lightening screaming hand through the bones of Naruto's right chest. The crunching sounds intermingled with the chirping and all went silent as Sasuke's bloody hand came out through Naruto's back.

The shock jolted through Naruto's body, causing him to involuntary seize around Sasuke's still hand. The movement only further aggravated the hole in his chest. Wide blue eyes searched Sasuke's face for anything, _anything_ remotely human. No. Nothing. That's why- that's why he'll save-

Sasuke quickly pulled his hand back through Naruto's body and watched as the blue eyes rolled back closed and his body fell into a bloody heap onto the ground.

He stared. The Procter stared. Danzo-sama smiled. The crowd remained silent until the clapping from Danzo-sama and a "well done" broke them from their thoughts. They nervously cheered for the Uchiha's win.

Sasuke walked away from the body of his once best friend, **no** , teammate without a second thought. He was about to reach the steps to the balcony when a malicious raw evil chakra pushed him off balance.

He turned around to see Naruto engulfed in an orange blazing chakra. The skin had grown over the hole in his chest, and he was now standing? No, he was hunched, on all fours like an animal waiting to strike his prey. His hair grew spiky and his whiskers were dark and jagged. His nails grew to claws and his eyes were almost chilling enough to make Sasuke shudder. Blood red like his sharingan, but pupil slits so feral he could guess at the killing intent behind those eyes.

If Sasuke could feel, he would have certainly froze in fear. But he couldn't, and so he looked his teammate square in the eye and said, "You're not dead."

"I'M GOING TO FUCKING **KILL YOU**!" Naruto screamed while his voice mixed in with the Kyuubi's.

Danzo-sama's smirk was gone, a growing frown plastered on his face.

Orochimaru left Danzo-sama's side, signally for the "extra" ANBU to take position.

Gaara felt the nine-tailed beast's chakra and his "mother" got excited. The one-tailed raccoon was ready to get into the action, feeling the bloodlust from his older brother.

Temari and Kankuro took several steps back when Gaara started acting strange, saw Orochimaru's signal, and cursed.

Kakashi saw that Naruto's cover was blown, but this was an opportunity, and started planning away.

And then everything went to hell.


	11. Chunin Exam Finals pt 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Happy New Years Eve :)

"Huh? Where am I?" Naruto blinked his eyes a few times, trying to remember what had just happened.

"You've already been here brat. Come closer so I can eat you and kill you, and get the hell out of this seal."

Naruto looked up to the cage holding his demon back and finally understood. He was in his mindscape, talking to giant chakra fox that lived in his belly. "Kyuubi! Wha-uh... What happened?" Naruto gulped down the shakiness in his voice.

"That Uchiha brat hit you straight in the chest with your sensei's signature move," the beast rolled his eyes and added a "tch."

"What do you mean? The last thing I remember was fighting Sasuke and then..." Naruto's voice trailed off as he tried to remember how he ended up in this sewer.

"He tried to kill you. He almost did, but I am not about to die because my stupid host is fucking incompetent," the Kyuubi glared at the same child in front of his cage, "And since you've decided to take a little nap, I'm taking over for a bit."

"What the hell are you talking about?!" Naruto screamed, starting to get angrier than normal.

"I've already dealt with one Uchiha fucking with me, and I'm not about to let another chibi-Uchiha kill us. You're too weak to do this yourself, so I'm taking over. Just rip off the seal on the cage and I'll handle everything," the Kyuubi said with a smooth voice.

Naruto pouted and started to become angrier, "Well if I'm so fucking weak, then lend me some of your power! I'm the one who's letting you stay here. It's time for you to pay some rent!"

A low, dark laugh rumbled through the space. "Is that so? You think I'm here by choice? You think I want to be trapped in the stomach of some half-pint brat who can't even dodge a blow to the chest? You're pathetic." The Kyuubi eyed Naruto with his red slants, hoping to inspire some fear in the boy. After a few moments of silence, he wondered if he had gone too far. He knew the seal was too tight to take over at this point, but he could at least save his host from being killed. And a little revenge on an Uchiha would be a nice bonus.

"I don't care what you say. I know I'm weak, I know I'm pathetic. I have been all my life. But I'm the only one who can save my friends from becoming monsters just like me. I made a promise to save everyone, to protect my precious people, and I never go back on my word! That's my ninja way, dattebayo!"

The Kyuubi had to school his features before Naruto saw his misty wide eyes. He growled low and barred his teeth, but shrunk down to lie on his stomach. His one paw stretched out towards the cage, and red, bubbly, corrosive chakra flowed into the sewer water. The chakra surrounded Naruto, enveloping him like a cloak. "If you die, I die, and I admire your courage for standing up to me. Take my chakra and leave."

As Naruto blinked open his eyes, he felt a surge of power and hatred flowing easily through his body. His chest still ached from Sasuke's strike, but running his fingers over the wound, the fresh skin tingled with a dull pain. No more gaping hole in his chest. Alright, well, that was an improvement at least. He pulled himself up limb from limb from the bloody ground, wavering ever so slightly as he took in the brightness of the arena compared to his mind's sewer. 

There, across the arena and about to exit up the stairs, was that goddamn Sasuke Uchiha. The asshole had the audacity to turn around and say, "You're not dead." 

Naruto's lip curled up in a snarl, and he could feel the red hot burning anger exploding from his cheeks. His eyes stung as he stared down his prey. He could feel the saliva in his mouth gathering, ready to rip the flesh from Sasuke's bones. This feral, animal-like desire to attack and conquer Sasuke was overwhelming. Before he could catch himself, he heard the words "I'M GOING TO FUCKING **KILL YOU!** " tear out of his hoarse throat. 

Before he could control his movements, he was dashing across the distance between them at a speed he had never thought possible. The smirk on Sasuke's face quickly turned into a frown when he realized he was going to get hit thanks to his sharingan, but knew his body was too slow to keep up with his changed teammate. Naruto's fist landed a solid punch to Sasuke's cheek, with a soft crunching sound and flying spit to accompany it. 

Sasuke was flown back hard, skating across the hard dirt ground, but managing to recover to his feet quickly. As soon as he brought his head up to rejoin the fight, a foot was burying itself into his gut, knocking the wind out of him. He flew back into the wall from the kick, leaving an indent. He quickly wove the hand signs for his Fire Style: Fire Ball Jutsu, and sent the blast directly at Naruto.

Naruto roared, blasting away the fireball with a gush of chakra. He leapt through the flames and grabbed Sasuke by the throat. Sasuke winced, but kicked Naruto in the chest multiple times until he let go. He staggered to his feet, catching his breath, until Naruto came out of nowhere with his enhanced speed to hit him once, twice, thrice, until his knee hit the ground. 

Sasuke's free leg swept underneath Naruto's feet, who jumped and flipped backwards until he landed on the indented wall. He stuck to the wall with chakra on the soles of his feet, and then pushed back against the wall, shattering the structure while flying high speed at a panting Sasuke. Naruto screamed in rage, flipping around in midair and pummeling Sasuke with both feet stretched straight. 

Sasuke was crushed into the ground, unmoving and not getting up this time. Naruto wiped the excess saliva from his chin and looked down on his opponent. A voice in his head chanted _"kill him, kill him, kill him."_

"I won't," Naruto said to thin air. "I'll save him. Just you watch." 

Naruto finally looked up into the stands, realizing the crowd had been silent the whole re-match. In fact, they were all asleep. He then turned his attention to the fighting shinobi, seeing Gai and Kakashi fighting side by side against some ANBU. "What the hell is going on?"

Before he could get an answer to that question, one of the sand siblings, Gaara if he remembered it correctly, was coming his way with a sadistically frightening smile on his face. "Now let me feel it, my reason for existing! Mother says you're like me, and she wants your blood. Only through killing and being undefeated can I feel my own existence! Hurry up and come at me!"

* * *

 "What is this, Orochimaru?" Danzo-sama asked calmly. 

"What does it look like, Lord Hokage? I'm changing the tides. You do know how I love to see things move and squirm." Orochimaru licked his lips with his long tongue.

"I gave you everything you wanted. I thought your only goal was to experiment to be immortal." 

"I suppose I have a different goal now, to see how the wind blows in a different direction. This village has been stagnate enough under your tutelage, but you were never meant to be the Hokage in the light. You were supposed to remain in the shadows, but you couldn't settle for that could you? You killed Sarutobi-sensei to get the hat, and for that, I will never forgive you."

"Oh?" Danzo-sama drawled, "I thought you hated Hiruzen for making that Minato-brat Hokage instead of you. I was doing you a favor."

"Sarutobi-sensei was my sensei to kill, not yours! And now I will destroy the fake Leaf Village you created!" Orochimaru hissed. 

"You mean, _we_ created," Danzo-sama corrected. "So what, you'll kill me like I killed Hiruzen so you can take the hat? Ironic, isn't it?"

"No," Orochimaru cackled, "I'll kill you for taking what was mine, and having the audacity to think you could ever control me, the Sannin Orochimaru. And Sasuke Uchiha is _my_ vessel, not your weapon. In fact, he'll never be perfected without me."

"I'll have the Yamanaka's find the cure in your memories. I'll leave you just alive enough to serve a purpose and then dispose of you when you are no longer needed."

"Ku, ku, ku, ku, ku," Orochimaru wiped the tears from his eyes, "What cure?"

Danzo-sama fought to not drop his jaw, "You're lying, how else would you be able to manifest Sasuke's mangekyo sharingan?" 

"I don't need the vessel's brain, Danzo- _ssssssama_. Just his eyes. Every trial for a cure ended in failure, so I stopped wasting my time when I already had the answer. Kill you and take control of the Uchiha's body. Ku, ku, ku, ku, ku!" Orochimaru laughed at Danzo-sama's silence. 

Meanwhile, Danzo-sama eyed the four sound ninja who had created a barrier around them. The barrier could only be broken from the inside, so he'd have to take one out for his ROOT to come in and assist him. Just as the thought passed his mind, and extra barrier went up around each ninja. "This is not going to be easy, I see."

* * *

"Twenty-three! How many for you, rival?" Gai asked while sending a Leaf Hurricane into two sand shinobi.

"Twenty-two," Kakashi said with a growl. 

"What about the Hokage?" Gai looked up to see the barrier sealing him in with Orochimaru. 

"He is the Hokage for a reason. He can handle himself." Kakashi said without breaking face.

"Hmph. I suppose you're right as usual, Kakashi."

Kakashi's eye fell down to the center of the arena, where a half-transformed Gaara was fighting a chakra-cloaked Naruto. He disabled another shinobi and then searched for the other two sand siblings who looked frozen in horror at Gaara's form. 

He looked up at the trapped Hokage and rogue Orochimaru and sighed. Why was he the one that had to deal with this shit?

* * *

Sasuke came into consciousness with a soft moan and slow blinking of his eyes. His mouth felt dry and his tongue tasted like sand. He sat up slowly, coughing up the dust. 

His eyes roamed over to the two fighting across from him. Naruto, with too many clones, and Gaara, was it?, with his sand shuriken taking them out. In a flash, Naruto was pinned up against a wall by Gaara's sand squeezing the air out of his lungs. Naruto's face was turning red as he squirmed to get out of Gaara's perfect hold.

At first, nothing sparked as "right" in Sasuke's mind. He almost laid back down in his crater like he couldn't give a damn what was happening. Not his problem, right?

He was so confused as to why he had been fighting Naruto in the first place when Kakashi had told him to never hurt a comrade with the chidori. But then Danzo-sama said that he had to. But Kakashi, his sensei, had taught him the move to use on Gaara, a foreign shinobi who controlled sand. Sand was weak against lightening, so Sasuke had the advantage. 

But now what should he do? Fight Naruto or Gaara? The fight with Naruto was long over now, and by the state of the surroundings, it looks like the village was under attack. His brain slowly clicked through his orders, his duty to the village, and finally decided what to do.

Chidori blazing in his left hand, he tore around Gaara's backside in order to deliver the surprise blow. However, Gaara's sand acted on its own and blocked the brunt of the attack. Yet, the lightening attack won against the sand, and broke Gaara's absolute defense. The attack rammed into his left shoulder, shoving him forward and drawing blood. Gaara let go of the sand on Naruto, just in time for him to get his breath back. 

Sasuke had no time to smirk when a blast of sand through him flying backwards. He looked up to see Gaara holding his head, carding his fingers through his hair with wide distant eyes. "Bl-bl-blood. Mother's blood-You! I must prove my existence! I'll...I'll kill you!" 

One of Gaara's eyes changed color, and half his body turned into a tan sand monster with a scaly appearance. Half his face was taken over, and behind him grew a tail. With Gaara's attention on Sasuke, Naruto cursed under his breath and silently prayed to the Kyuubi for more chakra. The Kyuubi chuckled long and low, and flicked a claw outside of the cage. Without a word, more chakra flowed from the beast, and Naruto's anger deepened. With an explosion of chakra he roared, the bubbly red hot chakra completely covering his body, with two pointy ears forming and a tail made of chakra lashing violently behind him. 

"GAARA!!! I'm your opponent! Stay away from Sasuke!" Naruto yelled in the rough hoarse voice of his. 

Gaara simply tossed Sasuke away with his sand and stood to face Naruto from a safe distance. "Mother wants your blood!" A rain of sand shuriken were coming high speed at Naruto, but to him, they seemed to be going in slow motion. With his enhanced speed, Naruto jumped up and out of the way, sticking his feet up to the adjacent wall. 

Just then Sasuke came up from behind, sharingan swirling with another chidori in hand. However, this one was much weaker, and acting like a gnat to Gaara's transforming skin. Gaara roared, pissed off, and slammed Sasuke into the opposite arena wall, holding him there with his sand justu like super glue. With two chidori as his limit and trying for a third, Sasuke was utterly exhausted, unable to resist the suffocating sand. His head lulled as he strained to keep his eyes open. 

"Sasuke!" a second later he could discern Naruto's voice yelling, "I won't let you hurt my friend!"

Friend? When had he become Naruto's friend? He felt nothing towards Naruto, and yet. Why? Why would he declare something like that? Naruto was just his teammate, just a fact of life, another body he had to deal with. Sasuke wasn't sure he ever _had_ friends. So why, why now? And how could Naruto of all people, the deadlast without any friends to his name, claim Sasuke as his own?

As soon as his thoughts ran out, he heard the poof of hundreds of clones popping to life. What is this? Was this Naruto? Was this what he was capable of now?

"Sasuke, you go ahead and rest. Leave the rest to me, Naruto Uzumaki, ya know! Alright everyone, let's go!"  With that, the Naruto's jumped as one, throwing thousands of shuriken at the transforming Gaara. He blocked with his sand, but was distracted. A simple taijutsu technique Kakashi had drilled into his head. Distract, attack. At once, the clones jabbed, straight, hook, uppercut. While Gaara was punched into the air, the clones came raining down from above with a side kick. Gaara sailed down to meet the hard ground. 

Exploding from the ground, more Naruto clones hit Gaara straight in the chin, shattering a few teeth and sending his neck sharply back. Gaara cried out in a rage, the sand taking over his body to the point where he had completely transformed into a mini Shukaku of the Sand. "How? How did you get this strong?"

Naruto breathed out a laugh, "Heh. I have to be this strong, in order to protect my precious people. That's where my strength comes from, so I can save them!" 

Gaara couldn't accept this and began to transform more. With a sweep of his tail, he took out the majority of Naruto's clones. Exhausted from the quick loss of chakra, the rest of Naruto's clones popped. Sand started to swirl around his body, making it harder to move and breathe. As his sight started to darken, he caught the sight of Sasuke, trapped against the wall unconscious. He could see the sand getting tighter around his throat, only allowing for short, shallow breaths. 

_"Shit."_

As he began to black out, he once again found himself in front of the cages in his mindscape. "Back again, brat?" The Kyuubi looked bored, "I thought you said you would save everyone from becoming monsters, protect your precious people. Looks like you can't even protect yourself from becoming crushed like a bug." 

Naruto raised his head with teary eyes, and yet glared at the Kyuubi. "He's too strong, I can't win against him. But I won't back down, no matter what."

"Oh? Do you know what he is, or rather what he has?"

"He... he has a monster inside him. Just like me." 

"That's right, my brother. The one-tail. If you think I'm about to let you lose to my little brother, well, I'd never hear the end of it." Kyuubi sneered.

"Little brother? Then... then there's more out there, like me?" Naruto whispered. 

"Eight more, in fact. And I'm the strongest of them all. So don't make me look bad, kid, or I'll eat you." The Kyuubi looked away in disgust. 

"But how, how am I supposed to beat him? He's so big and I'm so small, ya know!"

"So is the other brat. Now get out of here and win before you suffocate to death!" The Kyuubi pushed Naruto out of his mind, just as the sand started pouring into his mouth. With a burst of chakra, he pushed the sand away from him, revealing only himself. Taking in the moment, something clicked. _That's it!_

With more chakra flowing from the Kyuubi, Naruto's vision was going a little blurry, or maybe it was red, he wasn't sure. But with Gaara growing, he had no time to lose. Multiplying into a thousand clones, he took kunai with explosion tags and threw them at the sand monster. Again, again, and again. 

Before long, Gaara's sand was sliding away piece by piece. Gaara was enraged, and blew back, popping hundreds of clones. "I will not lose to a guy like you!" Naruto shouted, popping more clones into existence. Another round of explosion tags, but now he only had one round left. As Gaara swept out with his sand again, the real Naruto substituted with a clone close to Gaara's face and dove into the heart of the monster. With a huge burst of the Kyuubi's chakra, he pushed away the sand engulfing Gaara, and punched him square in the face. "WAKE UP, DAMNIT! CAN'T YOU SEE YOU'RE HURTING YOUR PRECIOUS PEOPLE??!"

With that, Gaara opened his eyes and looked over to see Temari and Kankuro frozen in fear. They couldn't look at their little brother, but they couldn't look away. "Temari? Kankuro?" Gaara rasped.

"Gaara..." Temari had tears in her eyes. 

The sand began to swirl away from Gaara, leaving just the puny kid behind. The sand dissolved from holding up Sasuke, too, who was now peacefully asleep and slumped to the ground. "You idiot," Naruto said as he went to swing a hook into Gaara's face. But instead, he missed Gaara's face and collapsed, exhausted from using more chakra than he ever had before.

Gaara fell next to him, face planted sideways, stuck looking at the almost passed out blonde. "Why?" Gaara asked his fellow host. 

"You are like me... so that must mean, you were all alone, too?" Naruto said as Gaara's eyes widened, "The pain of being alone, is almost unbearable isn't it? But I've found people who are important to me now, so I have to do everything in my power to protect them, ya know?"

"Why? Why would you go so far?" Gaara asked shocked.

"Because, they saved me from being all alone, and now I have to save.. them...too..." Naruto trailed off as his exhaustion overtook him. 

"Gaara!" Kankuro shouted, followed by Temari's, "Gaara, are you ok?"

"Why? Why do you care?" Gaara looked genuinely confused at his siblings.

"You're our little brother Gaara, no matter what, we're family," Temari said with a sad smile. 

"And even though we're afraid of you-" Kankuro started but stopped with an elbow in the ribs from Temari, "Oof. Well, what I mean is, we don't want you to be hurt all alone."

"Come on, let's go home," Temari said. With that, they scooped up Gaara in their arms and took off to escape all the fighting in the village they never wanted to be apart of in the first place. 

* * *

Amongst the chaos, nobody noticed when Kakashi picked up Naruto's limp body. He then took off to "pursue the enemy" aka the sand siblings and Shukaku of the Sand. He followed them through the forest, and being faster than them, quickly caught up to them and blocked off their path.

They readied themselves to fight, Gaara looking like he was between the verge of a mental breakdown and absolute exhaustion.

"Yo," Kakashi saluted, a little too friendly, he noted. "I'm not here to fight, but I do have a request."

"We're kind of in a hurry," Temari bit back.

"Right, I'll let you leave, but on one condition."

"What is it?" Kankuro inquired, knowing Kakashi had the upperhand.

"I want you to take Naruto out of Konoha, and hide him until things settle down," Kakashi half-ordered, half-begged.

"You...why would you do this?" Gaara asked.

"He can't stay here anymore, it's not safe. I've failed him once, I can't make the same mistake again. Please, this is my only chance to save him from this village," Kakashi pleaded.

"Are you..." Gaara squinted at the jounin, "Are you one of his precious people?"

Kakashi chuckled, "I guess so. And he's one of mine, too." They all stared at each other, waiting for Gaara to make a move. When he didn't, Kakashi continued, "Gaara, you have to help him. He is exactly like you."

"He needs to kill to prove his existence?" Gaara asked confused. 

"Just the opposite. He wants to protect his precious people, just like I am risking my life to save him now. He is like you because he has a demon sealed in him. The nine-tails, like you have the one-tails sealed in you."

Kankuro and Temari were silent as they watched the exchange. Gaara looked at Kakashi with hungry vicious eyes, but still confused he snapped, "Why? Why would you help him? If he is like me, why isn't he alone?!"

"He was alone, his entire childhood. No parents, no family, no friends. He was the village's victim of hatred and nobody wanted him. And yet, he'd sacrifice and risk everything by trying to save everyone in the village, his classmates, and me. He has made bonds, only if it is a few and superficial. But they are enough for him to fight for his precious people." Kakashi was exhausted after such a long winded speech.

"Precious people? But, I have no one," Gaara said.

"Gaara..." Kankuro looked at the ground.

"What about these two?," Kakashi gestured, "They stick by your side and protect you, and in a way you protect them, too. They've never abandoned you. I'm sure Naruto would want to be your friends and change the hatred in your heart. He has a habit of doing that."

Gaara looked over at Temari and Kankuro with a hard calculating glance. Then he looked at Kakashi with an even harder stare.

"We will take him," Gaara finally said.

Thank god, as Kakashi was actually starting to sweat under his mask.

"Gaara! What are you-" Temari started.

"Silence, or I'll kill you," Gaara said with less venom than usual. Temari offered a soft smile at his change of heart. After a long tense pause, Gaara's sand wrapped around Naruto and cradled him over to the sand siblings.

"Thank you, all of you," Kakashi bowed, "Please take care of him, and tell him to find Jiraiya. Jiraiya will train him. He's the last Sannin still loyal to Konoha. And here, give him this scroll when he wakes up."

Before Kankuro or Temari could ask another question, Kakashi shoved the scroll in their hands and darted off in the direction of Konoha to report he could not catch the fleeing sand ninja who had escaped with Naruto as their hostage.  


End file.
